Pentagon++
—I failed the entrance exam for my first choice high school.
It wasn’t my fault, though. I mean, yes, it was the best public school in the district, but I scored an 80 on all the practice tests, so clearly I had the ability. No, I was just unlucky. After all, I know at least one guy at my cram school who passed, and he’s basically a neanderthal compared to me.
And so I ended up enrolling at my second choice, Yamaboshi High School. As far as private prep schools went, it was fairly decent, and I’d heard the overall vibes were pretty lax. This did little to spark my enthusiasm, however, and so I was a sad little rain cloud, right from day one. How fitting, I thought to myself.
But just when I was getting ready to settle into my new, unexceptional life, things took a turn for the weird when a series of coincidences all hit me at once.
Or maybe none of it was a coincidence at all; maybe it was a foregone conclusion.
The people I met in that room were so full of light, it hurt. So dazzling, they made me sick.
Every now and then I’d meet people like them: beacons shining pointlessly amid a world full of despair. But in the end, they’d typically end up like us, and the world would grow more and more tainted. That was the system working as intended.
But every once in a blue moon, there were exceptions—people blessed with good luck right from birth. I always wondered what would become of those people... and why it was that I saw them as “dazzling” to begin with. The mystery intrigued me.
Maybe if I found the answer, I could join them—
No, no, no. What am I thinking? Am I blind? No way that’s happening.
But I’m still curious... Yeah, that’s it. I’m just curious. That’s all there is to it.
I don’t want to be like them, that’s for sure. No, really.
◆◇◆
—Starting my first year of high school, I wanted to reinvent myself. Like a makeover! Yeah, I like the sound of that.
Of course, I didn’t fancy myself the queen bee or anything. I knew I wasn’t cut out for that. Still, I don’t think it hurts to dream a little, you know?
I don’t need to be the star, I thought to myself. I don’t need to be in the limelight. I’ll take any minor role you offer me, even just Villager A!
But that motivation quickly faded, and before I knew it, I was right back where I’d always been. Literally the same exact spot! And at this point, I’m starting to think this is where I’ll always be. This is the role I’ve been assigned. I get that, I promise.
I’m just a peg, and this is my hole. My world won’t change—it’s just not possible. I mean, it’s just so big, you know? Compared to the size of the world, I’m an itty-bitty molecule. A speck of dust that floats along, fated never to take center stage.
But then I happened across the most dazzling spectacle I’d ever laid eyes on. I couldn’t believe it! I never thought I’d witness something so... perfect. Something that ticked all my boxes. It blew me away completely. I didn’t know something like that actually existed in real life!
It reminded me of that fruitless dream I’d thrown away... and made me think maybe it wasn’t so impossible after all. Maybe if I joined them—
No, no, no! Me? Who am I kidding? I’m not fit to stand among them. I’m just a peg.
But... if possible... No, I can’t! What am I thinking?
I’m not worthy.
◆◇◆
First, she drummed her fingers on the table. Then she began to shift around in her folding chair, making it squeak. Then she grabbed a volume of manga, opened it, closed it, opened it again—and shot a hopeful look at the clubroom door.
“Nagase, will you please just settle down?” asked Yaegashi Taichi.
At this, Nagase Iori swung around. Her silky dark hair hung freely down her back, swaying with her movements like a shampoo commercial.
“Excuse me, Taichi?! Are you trying to insimuate I’m restless or something?!”
“It’s insinuate, with an N.”
“Th-That’s what I said!”
“No it isn’t! You said ‘insimuate’ with an M! And to answer your question, yes, you’re fidgeting all over the place! Quit it!”
“You’re such a jerk today! Leave me alooone!” And with that, Nagase collapsed forward onto the table, cradling her head in her arms.
During their first year of high school, a perky ponytail had served as her trademark hairstyle. But these days it was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she wore it down; this afforded her a comparatively more grown-up vibe... on the outside, at least. Personality-wise, however, she was still her goofy, happy-go-lucky self. It was a very Nagase contrast, in Taichi’s opinion.
“You can’t blame her, dude,” chided Aoki Yoshifumi, with hands folded behind his head, his lanky body outstretched in full-on relaxation mode. “We’re gettin’ our first-ever new club member and we haven’t heard anything about ‘em! Who wouldn’t be curious?”
“W-We can’t just assume they’re going to join!” snapped Inaba Himeko, whose nervous tension placed her in diametric opposition to Aoki.
Spring had rolled around, but the flowers weren’t the only things blossoming lately. As of approximately one month ago, Inaba was now Taichi’s girlfriend. This had happened a little while after the pandemonium of club presentations—right after the end of «Heartseed»’s Sentiment Transmission phenomenon, if one wanted to get technical.
“What’s the matter, Inabacchan? Just yesterday you were goin’ on about how you wanted some new blood or whatever. Didja change your mind?”
“No, I still do, but... what if this new kid shows up and it’s a girl and she’s small and cute?”
Taichi’s ears perked up.
“What’s so bad about that?” Aoki asked.
“You know Taichi has a thing for little sisters! He might fall for her!”
In Taichi’s opinion, this was not something she needed to worry about.
Ever since the two of them had made it official, Inaba had come down with what Nagase liked to call “Ina-bashful Syndrome”—a condition in which she became overly doting to the point of clingy. Fortunately, these little flare-ups had grown more infrequent as of late, but she was far from cured.
“That’s completely baseless and you know it. Also? I do NOT have a thing for little sisters, thank you!”
The way she had phrased her statement made it sound like he had the hots for his real, actual sister. And while Rina was completely adorable, and he would gladly do everything in his power to help her, he was absolutely not interested in her like that.
“You sure?”
Her straight, dark, shoulder-length hair shifted as she leaned forward to peer at him, a hint of anxiety in her almond-shaped eyes. She was a natural beauty, with long lashes and angular features that gave her an air of maturity. (Recently it felt like she’d somehow gotten even more sexy... not that Taichi could bring himself to say that, of course.)
“Yes, I’m sure! These days I’m more into the, uh... sexy older woman type? The kind of girl who doesn’t always smile, but when she does, there’s nothing more beautiful in the world. Never fails to make me weak in the knees... So obviously you have nothing to worry about... er... I mean...”
One way or another, he always ended up making a fool of himself lately. He was so embarrassed, he couldn’t even look her in the eye.
“Here we go!”
“Aagh!”
Out of the blue, someone grabbed his head and forcibly turned it until he was facing Inaba.
“Look at you, stammering and blushing like a lovelorn maiden! Say it loud, say it proud, my man!” Nagase declared from somewhere overhead. Should’ve known she was behind this.
Taichi had (unsurprisingly) felt a bit awkward around Nagase during the early days of his new relationship with Inaba... but as you might expect, Nagase noticed and told him he was being obnoxious. As a result, things had more or less gone back to normal between them.
Despite everything they’d gone through, she was still willing to be his friend, and for that, Taichi was sincerely grateful... though he knew it was probably annoying as hell.
“Wh-What do you mean, say it proud? Let go already, would you?”
“Hey! Quit trying to look away! You gotta say it to her face!”
Inaba blinked back at him. Their faces were just fifty centimeters apart. And with every flutter of her lashes, his heart fluttered in kind...
“What do you expect me to—Actually, never mind.” He’d been inclined to wriggle out of this, but changed his mind at the last minute. He knew what she needed to hear. “Don’t worry, Inaba. You’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”
“Damn, playah, dial it back a notch!” Nagase teased. But Taichi wasn’t paying attention.
Inaba’s eyes widened in surprise. Then, after a moment, she smiled—innocently, like a little girl who just got a big plateful of cookies.
“Okay... Hee hee.”
Hnnng. He didn’t know how she managed it, but damn if it wasn’t super effective.
“Gah! Who knew Ina-bashful was so lethal at point-blank range?! Don’t tell Fujishima-san, but I might just play for both teams after all...!”
...Maybe a little too effective.
“Could you please let go of my head now?”
“We’ll worry about that later! Did you get all that, Private Aoki?!”
“Sure did, Captain! Got a video of the whole thing right here on my cell phone!”
“Wh... I told you guys to quit doing that!” Taichi shouted.
“Put a sock in it, Taichi!” Nagase shouted back. “We’re the ones who have to put up with all your lovey-dovey antics, remember?! We gotta get it out of our system or else the cuteness is gonna give us all diabeetus!”
“Don’t worry, Taichi! I’m gonna edit all the footage into a cute little montage and give it to ya on your anniversary or something!”
“No thank you, Aoki! And Nagase, will you freaking hurry up and let go?! Inaba, help me out here!”
“Yeah, guys... You better stop... We don’t do any ‘lovey-dovey antics’... And I definitely don’t want an anniversary montage... Hee hee hee...”
Crap... Inaba’s too far gone! There’s no one left to save me!
“Wh-Where’s Kiriyama?! She’s supposed to be bringing the new person, isn’t she?!” Taichi shouted, praying for a miracle.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aoki nodding wistfully.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Hmm? Oh, I’m just glad you’ve loosened up, that’s all!”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been kinda tense today, dude. Maybe even more than Iori-chan.”
Tense? Was that how the others saw him?
Just then, the clubroom door opened, and he stiffened. Oh god, it’s happening.
Instantly, he thought back to the fateful event that had led to this. Indeed, it all started yesterday...
◆◇◆
“Where are the new kids?!” CRC president Nagase Iori wailed one late April afternoon. She lay on the clubroom sofa with her arms and legs sprawled, looking altogether displeased. Mind you, she had always been on the emotionally expressive side, but these days she was a veritable kaleidoscope... and Yaegashi Taichi had a feeling he’d always envy that about her.
“Maybe we, like, overestimated how interesting our club is?” Kiriyama Yui sighed and twirled a strand of her long reddish-brown hair. She always put her hair up in a ponytail for gym class, but today she’d decided to leave it that way.
“The deadline for club applications is in five days! Five! That’s less than a week!” Nagase flailed her fists, punching the sofa cushions. “I guess we needed more than just flyers...”
“You saying my idea sucked?” Inaba Himeko muttered.
“What? No, no, of course not! It was something we all decided on, after all.”
“But we probably oughta get at least one new kid, right?” said Aoki Yoshifumi. “Maybe we should switch gears and start recru—”
“We literally agreed we weren’t doing that! We can’t just go back on it now!” Kiriyama cut in.
“While I do want the CRC to grow, I’m with Kiriyama on this one,” said Taichi.
As of this month, the five of them were now officially second-year students. This meant they were subject to new class assignments, as well as all the other trappings of a new school year. But arguably the most important of all these numerous April events was club recruitment.
At Yamaboshi High School, students were obligated to take part in some form of club activities. This meant that compared to other schools the recruitment period at Yamaboshi was relatively more intense. And the Cultural Research Club, which saw its one-year anniversary this month, was expected to take part in active recruiting efforts just the same as any other.
In light of this, the members of the CRC had established two rules:
1. They would not aggressively pursue new members.
2. They would, however, put out flyers and pamphlets advertising the club.
“I already feel bad dragging these kids into a club that exists for no reason. And not only that, but... we still have «Heartseed» to worry about,” said Kiriyama.
«Heartseed» was the mysterious entity that continually inflicted supernatural phenomena upon the five members of the CRC. The predominant fear among them was that, should they recruit any new members, it would be akin to handing this otherworldly being more toys to play with. After all, they couldn’t be sure if it was targeting the five of them specifically or the club as a whole... and if it was the latter, then they would essentially be consigning innocent students to a life of misery.
This risk was what kept them from taking a more active role in club recruiting... but deep down, they still wanted new members regardless. After all, they’d decided that the best weapon against the phenomena was to simply carry on with their lives as usual. Besides, there was no guarantee that «Heartseed» would mess with anyone else, and even if it did, the negative effects never lasted long enough to permanently ruin their lives.
Or maybe the addition of new members to the club would actually make the CRC less appealing to «Heartseed». Maybe it would give up on them entirely. But at that point it would probably just target new victims instead... and it would be their fault.
But was there even any guarantee that «Heartseed» would show up again? Sooner or later it was bound to get bored and leave.
...And so the debate went round and round in circles until finally they (read: Inaba) came to a conclusion: Invite no one, but welcome all.
“Okay, but at this rate, chances are good we’re not gonna get any newbies. Are you suuure we wanna risk that? Not that I’m opposed to another year of just the five of us, per se. It’s just kinda sad, that’s all.”
“Yeah... We can’t just let all our hard work go to waste! We gotta leave behind somethin’ we can pass on to the next generation!” said Aoki.
Personally, Taichi was inclined to agree. Sure, the Cultural Research Club was initially just sort of... a thing that happened. But by this point he’d grown attached to it, and now he hoped to see it live on even after his time at Yamaboshi was up.
“I admit, I totally want a cute little underclassman girl I can snuggle!” Kiriyama gushed.
“Hmmm... Yeah, it’d be nice to have a designated gofer. We need one.”
“I’m a little concerned about your motives here... Especially you, Inaba...”
“Anyways, setting Taichi’s usual unfunny commentary aside...”
“Hey! That hurt, Nagase!”
She laughed. “Okay, but yeah, moving on...”
“No apology?!”
Evidently this free spirit wasn’t going to let anything tie her down, not even the social contract.
“Tell me your thoughts, Taichi. You want new club members, right?” she asked.
“Huh? Oh... Well...” He hesitated for a moment. “It would liven things up, I guess, right?”
“You don’t sound all that convinced, buddy,” Aoki remarked.
“No, I mean it!” Taichi insisted... though he could see how someone might interpret it that way.
“Fess up, Taichi. Are you opposed to this?”
“No, not at all...” He attempted to put more conviction in his voice, but it still sounded feeble.
“If so, then... Oh...” Inaba suddenly clapped a hand to her mouth, blushing. “I see now... If we get more club members, then you and I will have less time to spend interacting with each other, and you don’t want that...”
“Oh, for crying out loud! How did you even come up with that interpretation?! I thought for sure your Ina-bashful Syndrome was cured by now, dang it!” Nagase retorted.
“Isn’t it obvious? Love makes anything possible. Heh heh heh...”
“Did you seriously just say that?! Is your brain made of syrup?!”
“Syrup’s pretty great, isn’t it? Sweet and melty... just like love...”
“Inabaaan! What happened to ‘Desserts have no nutritional value, so they’re a waste of time’?! It’s like you’re a whole different person now!” Nagase wailed.
“You’re one to talk,” Taichi muttered under his breath. “Now all of a sudden you’re making these catty quips at people...”
“Well, somebody has to point these things out, and I don’t see you doing it! Now that Inaban’s dead and gone, I can’t handle all this on my own! And Yui and Aoki are both basically just comic relief characters!”
At this, Kiriyama leapt to her feet. “Don’t lump me in with Aoki!”
“Relax, Yui! You don’t gotta be shy about it!”
“You can keep your overly generous interpretations to yourself! You’re as bad as Inaba!”
“What the fuck do you mean, now that I’m dead?! I’m right fuckin’ here!”
“As long as you’re Ina-bashful, the Inaban I know and love is as good as dead!”
Okay, this is getting out of hand. I need to do something, Taichi thought.
“Let’s all calm down, alright? You’re all acting like you’re in a free-for-all ladder match, but you keep trying to climb the ladder without taking your opponents out first, so obviously someone’s just gonna come along and yank you right back down again, and... Wait, okay, that was a bad analogy. Sorry, let me think of something el—”
“KEEP YOUR STUPID PRO WRESTLING JOKES TO YOURSELF!” the four of them shouted in unison.
I wasn’t joking, though...
Once Inaba reverted out of Syrup Mode, the conversation quickly got back on track. (It was clear they needed her to keep the rest of them in line.)
“Okay, so, we’ve determined that we do in fact want new club members, but with our history of... incidents, we won’t be actively pursuing them. Correct?”
At Inaba’s question, the others nodded.
“Wait... We already established that much! This doesn’t change anything!” Nagase sighed.
April was nearly over, which meant most of the first-year students had already put in their applications. At the very least, they weren’t going around sitting in on existing club activities anymore; likewise, the various clubs were spending markedly less time passing out flyers as time wore on.
The five of them murmured in contemplation. A long moment of silence passed... and then Inaba spoke.
“Guess our only option is to go back to our roots.”
“Meaning?” asked Aoki.
“Remember how this club was first formed?”
That really took Taichi back to the start of their first year. They’d all ended up clubless after attempting to join or start a “dead” club—that is, a club that failed to meet the prerequisite of five members. Then their teachers simply tossed them all together, and so the Cultural Research Club was born.
“Oh, I get it... So we just need to track down the kids whose applications haven’t been accepted for whatever reason,” Nagase murmured in understanding.
At the end of the day, the CRC was really nothing more than where you go when you have nowhere else to go.
“Maybe they’d appreciate the helping hand... but how do we find them...?” Taichi mused.
“Oh!” Kiriyama exclaimed.
“What is it?” Inaba asked.
“That reminds me, one of the kids at my dojo just enrolled at Yamaboshi this year.”
Nagase snapped her fingers. “You’re onto something, Yui! We should invite them!”
“Huh? Oh gosh, I don’t know if they’ll want to join... The person I’m thinking of is... well... a bit special, to put it nicely...”
“Who cares if they’re a little weird? We’re all a bunch of weirdos here! Besides, we were all in the same boat ourselves last year, so we’ve got no room to talk,” Nagase insisted.
“It can’t hurt to ask!” Aoki agreed.
“Not like we’re gonna force ‘em to serve us... I mean, join us.”
At least you’re honest about your intentions, Inaba...
“Are you cool with this, Taichi?” Kiriyama asked.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you! I said your name, didn’t I?”
“Oh... Right... Of course.” The answer was so obvious, and yet for some reason saying it felt like pulling teeth. “You should have them come by tomorrow.”
“Then that settles it! Thanks in advance, Yui! What are they like, anyway? Is it a boy? A girl? Actually, you know what? Let’s let it be a surprise!”
For some reason, Nagase’s gleeful voice sounded so... distant.
—Five days left until club applications close.
◆◇◆
The clubroom door opened... but no one walked in.
“Come on! What do you mean, you’re going home?! That’s not an option here!”
Out in the hall, they could hear Kiriyama fighting with someone.
“Come! On!”
She stepped backwards into the doorframe, forcibly pulling the other person with both hands.
The rest of the CRC stared at the entrance with bated breath. Guy or girl? Good kid or bad kid? Appearance? Hairstyle? Personality? Hobbies? Would they join the CRC? And why hadn’t they attempted to join any other club?
“GRAHHH!” With one final pull, the mystery guest lost their balance and stumbled into the room.
It was a guy.
He was about Taichi’s height, or maybe a little shorter. His body type was slender, yet toned, probably from all the karate, and he wore his hair in a messy, asymmetrical style.
“Oh, uh... Hi.” He inclined his head absently.
His gaze was sharp, perhaps uncomfortably so, but in conjunction with his androgynous features, it afforded him a somewhat dignified impression. And although they were only a few weeks into the new school year, he already looked right at home in his brand-new Yamaboshi uniform. In short—
“Ooh, he’s handsome!” Nagase exclaimed.
Indeed, though he likely wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, no one could claim he wasn’t conventionally attractive.
“Oh, please. You realize that sounds sarcastic coming from the so-called prettiest girl at Yamaboshi, right?” His voice was deep and steely.
“I’m not being sarcastic... Wait, hold on! The first-years are saying I’m the prettiest girl in school?!”
“Sure.”
“Huh... I mean, I can totally see how they’d think that, considering the many compliments I’ve gotten on my new hairstyle...”
“You’re not even going to deny it, are you?” Taichi retorted.
Nagase laughed. “I’m just joking!”
“Uh, Yui?! Hello?! How long are you gonna cling to his arm, exactly?!” Aoki shouted, looking flustered.
“Huh? Oh! Sorry about that, Chihiro-kun!”
“Hey! You should be apologizing to me, not him!”
“Why the heck would I apologize to you? Quit being full of yourself.”
“Her eyes... They’re like ice...!”
“Is this everyone?” the boy asked Kiriyama as he scrutinized each of them in turn.
“Yup. This is all five of us.”
“Hmmm...” He nodded pensively, and for a moment Taichi suspected he was plotting something... No, probably not.
Out of the blue there was a loud BANG as Inaba smacked the table. “HEY! Don’t just stand there! Let’s sit him down and introduce ourselves! Get the drinks and the snacks!”
“Spoken like a true matriarch,” Taichi snarked.
And so they moved on to introductions.
“So, I’m Kiriyama Yui... Wait, what am I saying? You already know me! We’ve been going to the same dojo for like forever! Okay, Iori, you go first!”
“I’m Nagase Iori. I’m technically the club president. And, as you know, I’m totally gorgeous. Aww yeah.”
“I’m amazed you can say all that with a straight face,” Taichi muttered.
“I’m Aoki Yoshifumi! My motto is ‘S’all good as long as you’re having fun!’ And for the record, punk, I expect you to tell me exactly what’s going on between you and Yui! If it turns out we’re both after the same thing, we’ll fight fair and square, like men!”
“Could you maybe not threaten some guy we only just met?!” Taichi hissed.
“Inaba Himeko. I know a fair bit about computers. Sitting here next to me is Yaegashi Taichi. He’s... my future husband.”
“That’s how you see me?!”
Meanwhile, the first-year boy listened quietly to each of their introductions.
“Taichi, you’re next!” Kiriyama prompted, snapping Taichi out of his shock.
“Right... I’m Yaegashi Taichi, and I believe pro wrestling is an art form. Nice to meet you.”
“Damn, bro! You said it with your chest held high and everything! Way to go!” Nagase cheered, and for some reason he got the distinct sense she was mocking him.
“Okay, Chihiro-kun, it’s your turn.”
“Alright... I’m Uwa Chihiro, and Yui-san dragged me here against my will. Nice to meet you.” He inclined his head once more.
“That’s it? Come on!” Kiriyama prodded. The two of them seemed to act like brother and sister; maybe she was his mentor at the dojo or something.
“I don’t have much more to say... Okay, let me think. I’ve been attending the same karate dojo as Yui-san since I was a kid, my grades are above average, and as for hobbies... I guess I’d say listening to music in other languages. That’s about it,” he finished flatly.
“God... I’m trying to get you into a club, so the least you could do is, like, put some effort in!”
“I never asked for this.”
“But you told me your class advisor has been hounding you for your club application!”
“I never said I cared.”
“Err meh gerd, you’re so bratty and un-cute! Except for your face... Actually, I guess you’re more ‘handsome’ than cute...”
“See that? Yui’s going into Man-eater Mode,” Inaba muttered as she watched Uwa and Kiriyama interact. “Once she commits to something, she goes all-in... I can’t wait to see the carnage.”
“Hey! Don’t make stuff up about me! I am NOT a man-eater!”
“Okay, that’s enough!” Nagase cut in, evidently sensing a long and fruitless argument on the horizon. Then she turned to Uwa. “So, any thoughts? Also, is it cool if I call you Chihiro-kun?”
“Let’s see...” Scratching his cheek, Uwa averted his gaze. “Well, my initial reaction is that all the girls are hot. At first I was wondering why you don’t have a crowd of guys trying to join, but then I realized most of them are probably too intimidated.”
“So you’re saying we’re... intimidatingly hot? Is that even possible?”
“Makes me feel a bit out of place here, if we’re being honest.”
“Aww, don’t say that! We don’t discriminate based on looks!”
“I guess someone of your caliber could never truly understand,” he snorted, his lips curled in a smirk.
For a moment, Nagase’s eyes hardened—and then, just like that, she was smiling again. “To be fair, we haven’t exactly gone around broadcasting ourselves to the new kids.”
“So no one’s joined up and now you’re desperate to recruit someone?”
“Hmm... There’s more to it than just that, but I guess that’s the gist of it! Hahaha...”
“Right... I mean what I said, though. You and Inaba-san are both ridiculously attractive. Now that I think about it, some people in my class were gossiping about the two of you being in the same club together. And to be frank, Nagase-san, you’re very much my type.”
“Whoa there!” Nagase jokingly raised both hands in a suppressing gesture. “Wasn’t expecting you to be so... overly direct!”
“Say, Chihiro-kun,” Kiriyama ventured timidly, “those people who were gossiping about Iori and Inaba... Did they say anything about me?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“What?! Er, I mean... Oh. Right. That’s fine. I don’t really care or anything. Not like I’m anywhere near as pretty as they are. I get it.”
“Well, you do kinda look like you’re twelve, so...”
“Wh...?! Twelve?! I look like I’m twelve?! Is that what you just said to me?!”
“They were talking about you, though.”
“Wait, what?! But you just said—”
“I was messing with you, Yui-san.”
“You... You little twerp!”
The two of them seemed rather close. Meanwhile, Aoki was watching them with a dismal look on his face. He would open his mouth to comment, then change his mind and close it, over and over, until eventually he started to flail his limbs in frustration. His heart wanted to intervene, but his common sense knew it would be immature... At least, that was how Taichi read his actions, anyway. Poor guy.
“So, why haven’t you chosen a club yet, Uwa-kun?” Inaba asked. “Is the five-member prerequisite keeping you from making your own, or something?”
“Well, I was trying to join the karate club.”
“Trying? What stopped you?”
“Mmm, well... Long story short, they clearly weren’t worth my time. So I asked them to list me as a member in name only, but they took offense to this...”
“No surprise there...”
“I mean, I wasn’t that blunt about it at the time. Obviously I made sure to ask nicely, but...”
“Sounds like it’s time to play dirty. Did you plan it all out in advance? Hmm... What if you—”
“Stop! Don’t teach him your nefarious ways!” Taichi cut in.
“You said that fight with the karate club sapped your motivation to go see any other clubs. That’s the whole reason I invited you!” said Kiriyama.
“And like I said, it’s not your problem to worry about. It’ll all work itself out in the end... I don’t know how many more times I have to say this before you get it through your head, Yui-san.”
“Oh, please! Once I told you about how this club made me stronger, you were totally on board!”
“All I said was that I would go and see them one time. And I only said it to get you off my back.”
“Fine, whatever! Done with this!”
“Okay then.” Uwa got to his feet. “I’m going home.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Kiriyama blurted. “C’mon, I was just kidding!”
“So was I.”
“Grrrrrrrrrr!”
Taichi got the feeling these two would carry on bickering ad infinitum until someone stepped in.
“I bet you burn a lot of calories arguing at the dojo all the time,” said Nagase as she munched on snacks. Wait, how is that plate already half-empty?!
“Okay, that’s enough! Yui, Uwa, both of you stop!” Aoki shouted. Evidently he couldn’t take it any longer. “He’s supposed to be chatting with us, not you!”
“O-Oh... Right...”
“You guys have plenty of time to talk to each other at the dojo or something! Yeah... Plenty of time there... No, no, there’s nothin’ to worry about! The bond I share with Yui is too strong to be broken by some rando... Yeah, it’s fine... It’s fine! Hahaha!”
His near-infallible optimism was starting to waver.
“Trouble in paradise...?”
“Just because your love life is all sunshine and rainbows, it doesn’t mean you can dunk on mine, Taichi!”
Inaba loudly cleared her throat. “So, Uwa-kun, do you have any interest in joining us? If not, we won’t force you to stay... You’re a little too bratty to be a good gofer, anyway.”
“Your ulterior motives are leaking out again...”
These days she’d gotten better about expressing her emotions, but sometimes she could be a little too honest...
Meanwhile, at Inaba’s question, Uwa looked up at the ceiling in contemplation. “Well, I do have to join some sort of club, right? This is precisely why I despise private schools... Ahem. Well, let’s see... Yui-san tells me you don’t enforce attendance, so that’s a plus...” He mulled it over for a moment. “I guess the most I can say for now is... I’ll actively consider it,” he finished flatly.
The rest of them didn’t quite know how to respond to this. Hell, Taichi wasn’t sure how to even interpret it.
Uwa looked around the room at them, then stood up from his chair. “Anyway, I’d better be going now. I’ve got karate practice today.” He slung his bookbag over his shoulder and headed for the door. “You’re cool with me leaving whenever I need to, right? If not, let me know sooner rather than later. That way we don’t waste each other’s time.”
And with that, he walked out, shutting the door behind him.
Once he was gone, Kiriyama turned to the others. “See what I mean? He can be a little prickly... What do you think?”
—Four days left until club applications close.
◆◇◆
The next morning, as Taichi walked into Classroom 2-B, a pair of cheerful voices greeted him:
“Morning, Taichi!”
“Gooood morning, Yaegashi-kun!”
“Hi, Nagase. Hi, Nakayama.”
Nakayama Mariko had been good friends with Nagase ever since their first year, in which they’d all been assigned to Class 1-C together. She was a cheerful, friendly girl who wore her hair in high pigtails—a style that had fallen out of fashion, but she rocked it nonetheless. With a big smile and a love of gossip, Nakayama made friends easily... but her overabundance of energy made her a little hard for Taichi to tolerate.
“You know, Yaegashi-kun, nothing gets my blood pumping like talking to you first thing in the morning! You’ve got this calm, soothing voice... and lately it’s got this sexy allure to it, too! I’ll bet we have Inaba-san to thank for that, don’t we? Get a room, you two! Seriously though, I’m like super in love with your voice. Just your voice, though!”
“...Someone’s certainly chipper this morning...”
“Hey! That look on your face says you think I’m obnoxious! What do we do about this, Iori?”
“Obviously we should just raise his energy levels high enough to match ours!”
“Alright, here we go! Energy chaaaarge!” Squeezing her eyes shut, Nakayama raised her hands in his direction like she was channeling some kind of power to him.
This is stupid... but it’ll be more awkward if I don’t play along, so here goes nothing!
“Chaaarge!” Taichi shouted (not too loud; he didn’t want to make a fool of himself) as he raised his fist into the air.
At that very moment, two girls walked into the room: Kiriyama Yui, her long reddish-brown hair flowing behind her, and Kurihara Yukina, Kiriyama’s best friend from her Class 1-A days.
Kurihara was tall and slender, with wavy bleached hair. She shot Taichi an icy stare, then turned to Kiriyama. “Your friends are being weird in the classroom again.”
“They’re too weird to be my friends. I don’t know them.”
“Oh, okay.”
And with that, they headed to their desks—
“W-Wait! I didn’t have a say in this! Nagase and Nakayama made me!”
But when he turned to look—
“Great weather we’re having today, huh?”
“Yeah! Such great weather!”
—the two of them were talking amongst themselves with no regard for him.
“Hey! Quit trying to play it off!” Why is everyone screwing with me today, damn it?!
“You’re hilarious, Yaegashi,” Kurihara laughed. Despite her no-nonsense personality, deep down, she was kind at heart.
“I’m not trying to be funny, though...”
“That’s no good. You men should try to be at least a little funny... Oh, that’s right. You’re all lovey-dovey with Inaba-san, so I guess you don’t need to worry.”
“Lovey-dovey?”
Inaba had no interest in keeping their relationship private, and thus most people already knew about it. According to her, she preferred it this way because then they could be more openly affectionate... Oh god, we ARE lovey-dovey, aren’t we?!
“You should’ve been there, Yukina-chan!” Nagase exclaimed. “Those two were allll over each other yesterday. It was sooo disgusting!”
“You say that,” Nakayama replied, “and yet you always have a grin on your face whenever you tell us about it!”
“Nngh... Okay, I admit it. Part of me kinda enjoys seeing them acting like total lovebirds.”
“Hey! We are not lovebirds... are we?”
At this, Nagase, Kiriyama, and Nakayama all burst out laughing. What the hell, guys?!
“PDA can be pretty cringey if it crosses the line,” Kurihara remarked. “But I think you should go ahead and enjoy it while it lasts. Over time you’ll both cool off.”
“Is that how all relationships work?”
“For the most part, yeah. That’s how it worked with me and my current BF, anyways... Maybe I should dump him...” Kurihara had a lot of dating experience, and her advice was indispensable.
“I really wish you would just commit for once,” said Kiriyama with a frown.
“How long are you going to play the sweet ingénue, Yui? I know you’re just as horny as the rest of us.”
“Bffgh?!” Taichi choked, caught off-guard.
“That’s bullcrap! I am not horny! Don’t spread lies about me!”
“Please. I saw you ogling that one page in that magazine we saw...”
Kiriyama’s face flushed beet red. “N-No! I... Th-The girl was just really cute, that’s all! I wasn’t HORNY FOR HER!”
Nagase patted her on the shoulder. “Of course, Yui. We get it. You should probably stop shouting ‘horny’ in the middle of class, though.”
“Huh? I... Oh god... NOOOOOO!”
But then someone clapped her hands loudly in their direction.
“Hey, guys? There are people trying to study in here, so could we try to keep our voice levels down, please?” It was the president of Class 2-B, Setouchi Kaoru.
“Oh... Sorry, Kaoru-chan,” Nagase winked.
“All is forgiven, Iori. I don’t mind you guys having fun. Just try to use your indoor voices.”
In the past, Setouchi was a rebel girl with long, bleached hair who had it out for the CRC. After chopping off her hair and dying it back to her natural black, however, she had transformed into a model student... though the piercings remained as a final vestige of the person she once was.
As it stood now, the CRC had made peace with her, Nagase included. The way she explained it was, “If she’s trying to better herself, then I want to support that.” Inaba, however, was not so readily forgiving, and every now and then she would put Setouchi to work as needed.
Nakayama smiled. “This class president stuff sure comes naturally to you, doesn’t it, Setouchi-san?”
Setouchi laughed. “I don’t know about that... Thanks, though.”
There had been two candidates for the position. At the time, Setouchi was widely considered to be the underdog, and by a long shot. Ironically, however, this led to a mass outpouring of pity votes, as well as votes from those who just thought it would be funny to see a rebel girl play the part of a goody-goody... and in the end, Setouchi won by a landslide.
As for Setouchi’s unlucky opponent, however...
“At first I was like, it’d just feel weird if it wasn’t her, y’know? But as it turns out, it actually feels pretty normal!”
There was a THUMP as a bookbag hit the floor. Taichi turned in the direction of the sound.
Standing there was Fujishima Maiko, former president of Class 1-C, runner-up candidate for president of Class 2-B. During their first year she’d been the very picture of poise, but now her ponytail was messy and her glasses sat askew on her nose. She bent down, grabbed her fallen bag, and tottered off to her desk. There, she collapsed into her seat, looking utterly deflated.
“Oh, uh, not that you’re bad or anything, Fujishima-san! We’re just saying Kaoru-chan’s doing a great job, that’s all!” Nagase hastily added.
“It’s alright, Nagase-san... I wasn’t fit to be class president... I tried my best to do everything I could for you people... but that effort went unnoticed...”
Once upon a time, this former class president had reigned supreme as a “Goddess of Love,” but now that she had tasted defeat, she had burned out completely—a condition from which she had yet to recover for the past two weeks.
“That’s not true!” Nakayama exclaimed, her pigtails bouncing. “You were the best class president this school’s ever seen! Sure, you didn’t win this time around, but lots of people are still counting on you for your dating advice!”
“If I was the best, then why did I lose? If I can’t even get elected, then I have no right to advise people on their love lives... I’m no president, I’m no apostle of love... I’m just an NPC named Classmate A...” She laughed under her breath. Losing the presidency had clearly dealt a heavy blow.
“Um... Fujishima-san?” called Setouchi, the very person who had defeated her in the election. “If it matters that much to you, I’m happy to step down. I’m not really that attached to this particular position.”
At this, Fujishima looked up sharply, shooting daggers at Setouchi. “I’m not going to take your pity! Grrrr!” She began to bang her fists on her desk like a child throwing a tantrum.
“It’s like she’s a completely different person,” Taichi muttered to himself.
But she wasn’t the only one. Somehow, the mere act of moving up a grade had changed a number of people he knew. Was there something in the air, or what?
“Besides... You’re the only one fit to lead this class, Setouchi-san. You’re the one they chose, not me!”
“F-Fujishima-san...!”
The two girls clasped their hands together in a passionate handshake. Meanwhile, Fujishima used her free hand to wipe her tears.
“Hey, uh, I’ve been wondering... Why are you 1-C alumni all so obsessed with the role of class president?” Kurihara asked Taichi in a low voice.
“Fujishima had this incredible charisma back then... It’s just one of those ‘you had to be there’ things.” Taichi stared wistfully into the distance.
“Uh... Right... I guess even the rumors were selling her short...” Apparently Kurihara was a little weirded out by this.
Following the end of the handshake, Fujishima was still crying... and while Taichi felt her attachment to the role was perhaps a bit extreme, his heart still ached for her nonetheless. He wanted to reach out to her.
“Fujishima?”
“...What is it, Yaegashi-kun?” She turned in his direction and adjusted her glasses. She looked a lot more fragile now than she did back during her glory days, but frankly, that contrast was pretty damn cute.
“Back during our first year, you helped me countless times. To me, it doesn’t matter if you’re elected or not, because I already know just how incredible you are.”
“Hah... I’m not that great.”
“Sure you are! With a little self-confidence, you can still do great things for the rest of us. You just need to believe in yourself.” He scratched his head. I hope that wasn’t too on-the-nose...
“Ohhh, now I get it! You know, I’m impressed you can say those cheesy lines in public without even batting an eye. This must be how you got Inaba-san to fall for y—Nngah!”
Before Nakayama could finish her gleeful babbling, Nagase grabbed her by the pigtail and yanked hard. (As far as anyone knew, this was the only method of reining her in.)
“Yaegashi-kun...” Fujishima gazed at him, her eyes widened slightly.
As for Taichi, he’d encountered this pattern of behavior multiple times before. Just when things would get serious, he’d go to say something heartfelt, only for the other person to promptly ruin the moment with a stupid joke. And Fujishima in particular was infamous for doing this. With a little setup, surely she’d take the bait and go right back to her usual infallible self—
“J-J-Just so you know, you’re not going to max out my affection meter no matter what you say, got it?! I’m not going to take part in your little harem!”
Uhhh... That’s not how this was supposed to go... He stared blankly for a moment. Then his brain supplied him with all the ammo he needed for a response.
“What are you talking about?! What harem?! I don’t have a harem!”
“Frankly, I’m a little offended you thought you could grind points with me with that sorry excuse for a line. I’m not that easy, you know.”
“I never once thought that! And I don’t ‘grind points’ with anyone, thanks!”
For that matter, I didn’t even think you were a romance option in the first place!
“That said, it did make my heart skip a beat. Thank you.”
“This conversation makes no sense! You’re welcome, I guess?!” What is the MATTER with you, Fujishima Maiko?! This isn’t like you! And it’s making me feel weird! “Snap out of it, Fujishima! Wait, why is everyone cringing at me?!”
And that was when someone grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him backwards.
“Whoa whoa whoa?!” he exclaimed, struggling to stay upright. “Wh-What the hell... Whoa!”
He turned to find Watase Shingo, another 1-C alumnus, glaring at him. Watase was the rising star of the Yamaboshi soccer team; he wore his hair in wolfish, bristly spikes that seemed even more barbed than usual today. He was also a massive Fujishima fanboy, and consequently, had been positively ecstatic about sharing a class with her for another year.
Behind him stood a crowd of male classmates with equally hard looks on their faces. They quietly formed a circle around Taichi.
“Care to explain this, Yaegashi?”
“I should ask you the same thing! The hell is your problem, Watase?!”
“You think you can just hang out in a big group of girls like it’s no big deal?!”
Behind him, the other guys nodded solemnly.
“I wasn’t trying to! They were the ones who initiated it!”
“That’s no excuse! Not only that, but they’re all hot, and all on ridiculously good terms with you for some reason! Even Fujishima-san!”
Aha. That explains it.
“I didn’t seek her out. It just sort of happened, okay? I’m allowed to talk to her, aren’t I?”
“I can’t believe you... What happened to ‘bros before hoes,’ huh?”
“Yeah!” shouted a few of the guys in the crowd. They were all weirdly invested in this, and it wasn’t looking good.
Desperate, Taichi searched for some way to take the heat off of him. Then he remembered.
“Hold on... Bros before hoes? What about that time you canceled on me so you could hang out with some girl from another school?”
Indeed, as a soccer player, Watase had plenty of game with the ladies.
“What?!”
“You’re just as bad as Yaegashi!”
“Not cool, dude!”
Just like that, Watase was pushed into the middle of the circle along with Taichi.
“No... This is all a big misunderstanding! Damn it, Yaegashi, don’t drag me down with you!”
“I was just telling it like it is.”
“But you knew it wouldn’t help your case! All it did was hurt meeee!”
And so the two friends were mobbed by the rest of their classmates. Fortunately, most of the crowd’s anger was centered on Watase for “pretending to be one of them,” so Taichi was set free relatively quickly.
“Thank god...” Taichi hurried back to his desk. Thanks for taking one for the team, buddy.
What a hectic morning this had turned out to be... At this rate, his second year of high school was sure to be a blast. Fortunately, most of the people he was closest with during his first year had ended up in the same assigned class with him...
Just then, his cell phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open to find one new email from Inaba Himeko:
Why? Why did everyone else get assigned to 2-B while I’m stuck here in stupid 2-D with AOKI of all people?! What did I do to deserve this?!
“Just a roll of the dice, I’m afraid...”
That was eerily good timing, though.
◆◇◆
After school, the five members of the CRC gathered in the clubroom along with their potential new club member Uwa Chihiro.
Based on how yesterday played out, no one had expected him to show up again, but much to their surprise, he turned up along with Kiriyama. Evidently he was at least somewhat interested in joining.
“It’s just weird... Why would they put all of you in one class and not me...?” Inaba grumbled sulkily.
“It’s a done deal, Inaba. You have to let it go,” Taichi replied. They must’ve had this conversation a dozen times by now.
“Uggghhh... If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve pulled some strings...”
“I’m not happy, either... I’ve been separated from my beloved Yui...!” Aoki wailed, clutching his hair. This, too, was a common occurrence as of late.
“Yeah... I think maybe God separated the four of you on purpose,” Nagase remarked matter-of-factly. “Otherwise you’d all grate on my nerves.”
Ouch.
“Now I understand why Yui-san always complains about you at the dojo...”
“What?! Is this true, Uwa Chihiro?! Wait... Maybe I can interpret that as gushing somehow...”
“How on earth does your brain turn complaining into gushing?!” Even Kiriyama was starting to take issue with Aoki’s ridiculous optimism.
“Oh yeah! We should all figure out what to call the new kid!” Nagase suggested out of the blue.
“You can just call me by my name, you know. I don’t need a nickname... For that matter, I haven’t even committed to joi—”
“No, no, no. Nicknames are important! You have to decide these things right from the outset. Take Taichi here for example. He said he’d only call me by my last name in the beginning, but sure enough, he still calls me Nagase to this day!”
“I just... never really found the right time to switch over... Sorry...”
And with that, they launched into a brainstorming session. After a handful of suggestions, they decided the best option was to simply stick with “Chihiro.”
“Whatever works for you all is fine with me.”
“Calling you Chihiro will match nicely with Yui’s ‘Chihiro-kun,’ anyway,” said Inaba.
“I’m still tempted to go with ‘Chee-hee,’ myself,” Nagase commented.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead calling him that.”
“I dunno... Considering how lovey-dovey you are lately... Er, never mind. Fine, I’ll just call him that myself! You don’t mind, right, Chee-hee?”
“I know I just got done saying I was fine with whatever works for you, but uh...”
“I’m sticking with ‘Chihiro-kun,’ personally,” Kiriyama cut in.
“Guess I’ll go with Chihiro, too,” Taichi mused.
That was where Aoki decided to take a stand.
“Guys... While we’re on the subject, I wanna request a nickname for me, too! Or if that’s too much to ask, then could you at least call me by my first name?!”
Naturally, everyone chose to ignore this. Alas.
“Uh, hello?!”
“You’ve kinda already established yourself as Aoki, dude,” Taichi explained. And I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.
“You’re so cruel, Taichi...!”
But although everything looked to be the same as always, the vibe in the room felt ever so slightly different. Perhaps this was to be expected, considering that the table now accommodated six chairs where in the past they had only needed five. More than that, however, Taichi got the sense that this foreign element known as Uwa Chihiro was having quite the effect on them. Granted, it wasn’t that he was particularly opposed to recruiting a new member for the club or anything like that—
There was a knock at the door.
Instantly the room fell silent. Tension descended over them. Aoki and Kiriyama froze in place; Inaba and Nagase glared at the door.
Meanwhile, Chihiro looked a little confused. “Uh... It sounds like you have a visitor.”
What he didn’t understand, of course, was that the CRC never got visitors. Only one person ever bothered to make the trip up those three flights of stairs, and that was Gotou Ryuuzen, class advisor for 2-B as well as club supervisor for both the CRC and the jazz band. And even then, sometimes the Gotou that showed up wasn’t really Gotou...
Knock, knock, knock.
The person at the door was growing more insistent.
Inaba glanced around at everyone, then called, “Come in.”
Slowly, timidly, the door opened.
The first thing they saw was her floofy, brown, medium-length hair. Then she peered into the room, and they caught sight of her prominent forehead and large, round, puppydog eyes. As she moved out from behind the door, Taichi could see that she was short and petite, much like Kiriyama, and her slightly oversized uniform was draped loosely over her curvy frame.
If he had to describe her in one word, that word would be soft. She was adorable.
“Umm... What’s up...?” Nagase prompted, startled.
At this, the girl straightened up stiffly. Then, after a few deep breaths, she clutched at her chest and said—
“M-M-My name is Enjouji Shino and I s-saw a flyer that said you’re accepting visitors... so um... if it’s okay with you... I’m here to visit!”
At this unexpected event, the CRC sprang into action.
“Well, come on in and have a seat! There’s a chair right here... Oh, or you could sit on the sofa! Normally I’m the only one who ever uses it, but it’s not president-exclusive or anything. I’ll cut you a special deal, just this once!”
“So, what made you decide to come visit us?! It can’t have been that badly designed flyer! Or did you hear about us from someone? Gosh, you’re like totes adorbs! Can I play with your hair?!”
Apparently Nagase and Kiriyama were... particularly enthusiastic.
“Boy, am I glad you’re here! There’s only three days until the application deadline, and as president, I was starting to feel like we screwed up somewhere!”
“If you’re visiting, then you haven’t submitted your application anywhere yet, right? So you don’t have a club yet, right? Right?”
“Uh... Well... Um...” Enjouji glanced all around like a nervous squirrel.
“You’re freaking her out,” Inaba scolded. “Let her sit down first, would you?”
“Okaaay...” Nagase and Kiriyama sighed in unison.
“Thanks for having m—” Enjouji began... but right as she moved to take a seat at the table, she locked eyes with Uwa. Two seconds of silence passed, and then... “WHAAAAAAAT?! Wh-What are you doing here, Uwa-kun?!”
“Took you long enough to notice... Hardly something to scream about, in my humble opinion...” Chihiro rolled his eyes.
“Oho... You two know each other?” Aoki asked.
Enjouji nodded. “Y-Yeah... We’re in the same class... and the seating arrangement has us sitting near each other...” Her voice was trembling.
Not that Taichi blamed her for being nervous, of course. He probably would’ve felt the same way, walking into a room full of older students.
“I’ll bet it’s reassuring to see a friendly face here, huh? Feel free to relax,” he told her gently.
“O-OKAAAAAAAY!” she yelped, flinching.
Everyone else jumped in surprise, Taichi himself included. “Wh... What’s wrong?!”
“Oh... Sorry! Sorry!” She bowed her head fearfully.
“Just sit the fuck down,” Inaba commanded. For some reason, she seemed to be in a bad mood.
“Oh... R-R-Right!”
After the CRC took turns introducing themselves, it was Enjouji’s turn.
“So, um, I’m Enjouji Shino, from class 1-B. My name is written with the kan—”
“Your name is Shino?! That’s sooo cute! We should call her Shino-chan, Iori!”
“Good call, Yui! I’ll bet everyone compliments you on your name, huh, Shino-chan? You don’t even need a nickname to make it cute!”
Once again, Kiriyama and Nagase jumped in straight away.
“...It’s written like this...” Enjouji dug in her bag and produced a notebook with her name written right on the front.
“Ooh, you’ve got some pretty cool kanji goin’ on!”
“Th-Thank you, Aoki-senpai...” Enjouji smiled softly. She was still a little stiff, but it was an improvement nonetheless.
“You don’t really see high schoolers writing their name on their notebooks... It’s a smart thing to do, in my opinion,” Taichi commented.
“W-W-Well, I tend to misplace my stuff a lot, so...!” She hung her head, blushing and avoiding Taichi’s gaze. Was he making her uncomfortable? He hoped not, though he’d only just met her, so he couldn’t be sure.
“So, um... Nagase-senpai, Kiriyama-senpai... if you’d call me Shino, I’d actually really like that...”
“Talk about a delayed response! I was starting to think you ignored us flat-out!” Nagase exclaimed.
“But it’s cute that you take things at your own pace!” Kiriyama added.
“S-Sorry...”
“No need to apologize! But I want you to call me Iori-senpai, okay?”
“And you can call me Yui-senpai!”
“Okay then... Iori-senpai and Yui-senpai... Got it.”
“She’s soooo sweet!” Nagase and Kiriyama squealed in unison. Evidently they’d taken a liking to her.
Enjouji fidgeted in her chair and glanced at Inaba. “So... should I call you Himeko-senpai...?”
“Don’t you dare!” Inaba hissed back.
“Eeek! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Look, Inaba, I know you hate people using your first name, but you don’t have to take it out on Enjouji here. She didn’t know any better,” Taichi scolded.
“You’re the only one who’s allowed to call me Himeko! End of story!”
“Wait, really...?” It made him feel really proud to be her boyfriend, but at the same time that special privilege made him a little embarrassed, too. Was this a thinly veiled hint for him to start calling her that...?
“O-Okay... Sorry, Hime—I mean, Inaba-senpai. J-Just checking, but... am I allowed to call him Taichi-senpai...?”
For some reason she posed this question not to him, but to Inaba. Feels like there’s something wrong with this picture...
“......I’ll allow it. But just barely.”
“You really had to think about that one, huh?” And it was a close shave, apparently?
“Okay... Lastly, I’ll go ahead and leave Aoki-senpai as is...”
“Whoa, uh, Shino-chan? How are you already dunking on me?! You only just got here! Do I radiate some kinda ‘please bully me’ vibes?! Help me out here! Where am I going wrong?!”
But Enjouji ignored Aoki’s desperate entreaty and instead turned to Chihiro. She paused, swallowed hard, and said...
“Um... Uwa-kun... Is it okay if I call you Chihiro-kun, too? Um, I mean, I know it’s probably weird to have someone your own age using your first name, but I figure I should match what everyone else is calling you, so...”
“Suit yourself.”
“Yeah, I figured... Wouldn’t want our classmates to hear me call you that, ‘cuz then people will start gossiping about us, and that’d probably be embarrassing for you... I just figured I should try to fit in with everyone here... Obviously I’ll stick to using your last name when we’re in class... Wait, you’re okay with it?!”
“She’s soooo hilarious!”
“Like I said, knock yourself out. But for the record, I haven’t officially joined yet,” Chihiro replied coldly. “Have you decided you’re joining? I thought you were just visiting.”
At this, Enjouji froze. “You’re right! Come to think of it, I haven’t decided yet!” Apparently this one was a bit of a ditz. She wilted slightly. “Um... Sorry for acting like I’m one of you...”
“No need to apologize! You’re already halfway there. Then once you join, it’ll be official! Plus, it seems like you’re already good friends with Chee-hee. What’s the harm?” Nagase chimed in.
“Chee-hee...?”
“That’s my pet name for Chihiro-kun.”
“Sounds like the sort of name you’d give a chinchilla.”
“Are you trying to piss me off, Enjouji?”
“N-No! Not at all!”
Nagase burst out laughing, clapping her hands like a seal. “Good one, Shino-chan!”
“I’m glad you all are having fun,” Inaba grumbled under her breath. She still seemed rather disgruntled.
“Is something wrong?” Taichi asked.
“No, it’s nothing.”
But as her boyfriend, Taichi knew her better than that. It was obvious that she was unhappy. But what could possibly be bothering her? Wait... Don’t tell me...
“Inaba... This wouldn’t have anything to do with Enjouji being the ‘cutesy little sister type,’ would it...?”
“N-No! Th... That’s not it! Not at all!”
Bingo.
Normally she was so frank and unreserved, but every now and then she would get all bashful over the silliest things. She was bold, yet timid; aggravating, yet adorable. That’s my Inaba Himeko.
Granted, Enjouji was exactly the type of girl a guy would want to coddle and protect, but—
“OW OW OW!”
And then Inaba pinched his thigh as hard as she could.
“What the heck was that for?!”
“Oh, I think you know the answer to that.”
Sometimes it was frightening just how easily she could read his mind. Something told him he’d never be able to cheat on her and get away with it... Not that he wanted to, of course!
“What are you guys doing?” Enjouji asked them.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s just one of those things all couples do,” Nagase cut in.
“More like a couple of bonobos,” Kiriyama added.
“Wow... I’ve never seen bonobos up close before.”
“You really know how to drop a snarky one-liner, don’t you, Enjouji?” Worse, you probably don’t even realize you’re doing it...
At this, Enjouji started to panic. “Huh... Wha... Huh?!” She shook her head vigorously, then let out a breath. “Wait a second... So you’re saying Taichi-senpai and Inaba-senpai are a couple?!”
“Duh! Isn’t it obvious, Shino-chan?” Nagase replied.
“Oh my god, your delayed reactions are sooo cute!” Kiriyama laughed.
“I bet you’d think anything was ‘cute’ as long as Enjouji was the one doing it,” Taichi muttered almost on reflex. Seriously, girls treat it like some kind of all-purpose adjective...
“Oh gosh... Oh wow...!” Enjouji looked back and forth between Taichi and Inaba, murmuring in admiration.
“What?” Inaba breathed aggressively.
“Oh, um, I was just thinking, you two look so great together, you know! I’d love to have that kind of relationship someday... Oh, but, obviously I know it’ll never happen for someone like me...” She laughed weakly.
“So what you’re saying is... You see us as the ideal couple, and you want to emulate us?”
“Oh, I mean, I know it’s totally unrealistic, but... it can’t hurt to dream, right?”
At this, Inaba’s expression melted into a dorky smile. “Heh... Pretty dreamy, isn’t it? You know, I could always take you under my wing, Shino. You’re a real sweetheart, you know that? Yeah... If you ever need any help, you can always come to me, understand?”
“You just completely changed your tune about her, didn’t you...?”
It was rare to see Inaba pivot her stance a full 180 degrees.
“Thank you so much, Inaba-senpai!”
“You can call me the Love Guru if you want.”
Okay, now you’re getting ahead of yourself.
“D-Don’t go there, Inaba! That burden is too much for you to bear! Only Fujishima can carry its weight!”
“You just love to defend your precious Fujishima, don’t you?” Inaba glared.
“What? No! She’s just so crushed from losing the election, you know? I’d feel bad if we stripped her of anything else.”
Damn it... All this time I was making jokes about all her love nonsense, but when it comes down to it, I actually kind of miss it... Weird how that happens...
“By the way, Shino-chan,” Aoki began, “me and Yui are gonna be an ideal couple someday too, so you’re welcome to start calling me Sensei—OUCH!” He yelped as Kiriyama smacked him over the head with her notebook.
“Don’t spread that nonsense around!”
“Is there a point to me being here, or can I go home now?” Chihiro complained.
“We’re getting off-track, guys. Let’s talk about Shino-chan joining the club!” Nagase exclaimed.
“I... I haven’t decided yet... technically...”
“Oh, right. Hmmm... Okay, well, can you tell us what made you decide to come see us today?”
“W-Well...” Enjouji flinched, then froze in place like a statue—save for her eyes, which were darting around all over the place. Naturally, this drew everyone’s attention to her like a magnet.
“We’re just curious what brought you here,” Kiriyama repeated. Maybe she thought Enjouji hadn’t heard the question.
“I... I can’t tell you.”
“Why’s that?” asked Aoki.
“Because... it’s a secret.”
Yes, that much was implied, Taichi thought. But before he could put this retort into words, he stopped. Enjouji was hunched over, shrinking in her seat, as the energy in the room petered out.
“W-Well, not like you have to tell us or anything. M-Moving on!” Nagase continued.
“Oh... I did it again... I’m sorry...”
“It’s fiiine! Don’t worry about it! Now then, let’s do our usual thing and—”
This time it was Nagase’s turn to freeze in place, with a look on her face that suggested something critical had just dawned on her.
“What is your ‘usual thing’? I don’t really get how this club works,” Chihiro mused.
“I... I saw on the flyer that you ‘publish a monthly periodical with articles on a variety of topics, in addition to other things’... What are the other things?” asked Enjouji.
Instantly, the five second-year members all tensed up. They’d put out the recruitment flyers... waited for potential member candidates to turn up... but they hadn’t planned out any activities to do with them!
“Y-You’ll see! Today’s just... a meet-and-greet!” Nagase lied.
And so, after some more friendly banter, they sent everyone home for the day.
—Three days left until club applications close.
◆◇◆
The next day, the five members of the CRC gathered in the courtyard during lunch break.
“We’re so lucky Chee-hee and Shino-chan both found us before the application deadline! It’s gotta be fate!” Nagase declared, balling her hand into a fist. “We need them to join us. They’re too good to pass up!”
“Though they definitely have their idiosyncrasies,” Inaba remarked, and the others nodded.
“Mmm... I don’t know about ‘need them to join us’... Shouldn’t we like, want them to want to join first?” Surprisingly, Kiriyama had taken a rational approach to the situation rather than blindly agreeing with Nagase, as Taichi had anticipated.
“What? But you’re the one who brought Chee-hee to us... and don’t you like Shino-chan?”
“Yeah, obviously! But like... when it comes down to it, it’s their choice, you know?”
“Hmm... Yeahhh...” Nagase murmured.
At this, Aoki asked, “Do you guys not want new club members after all?”
“Of course I do!” the two girls shouted back in unison.
“Okay, just checking, ‘cuz you don’t seem that enthusiastic about it,” Aoki shrugged.
“It’s hard to be enthusiastic when you-know-who is still out there somewhere,” Taichi argued.
“Guys, stop! We already came to a theoretical conclusion on that debate, remember? Right now we need to be talking about our club activities for the day!” Nagase cut in before they inevitably went on a tangent. Whoops. Almost forgot.
“Right... We want them to think the CRC is a cool club, and we don’t have a lot of time to convince them,” Kiriyama mused.
“That punk Chihiro might have other reasons for joining—”
“Let’s not open that can of worms or we’ll be here all day!” Nagase interrupted again. “The point is, we can’t let them find out the whole point of the club is to screw around. We gotta do something fun! Something... I dunno... club-like!”
“Easier said than done,” Inaba replied. “Personally, I was thinking it’d be fine to keep things the same as last year, but—”
“H-Hi there, everyone!”
Just then, they heard a loud voice nearby.
“Well, if it isn’t Shino-chan! Whatcha up to?” Nagase responded cheerfully, and the others followed her lead.
Having secured a warm welcome, Enjouji let out a sigh of relief and walked up to them. “I was just on my way back to the classroom when I saw you all gathered out here. What are you up to?”
“Oh, we were just discussing our after-school plans for the day... Er...”
“You don’t have it planned out?” Enjouji tilted her head.
In an instant, “oh crap” was written all over Nagase’s face... blatant enough so as to be obvious.
“It can’t be... I knew it... Is the Cultural Research Club really just an excuse for normies to get together and goof off...?!”
“No, no, no! Of course not! And what do you mean, normies?!”
“M-Maybe I don’t belong there... I should probably join a different club...”
“HOLD IT! F-For the record, we do a lot of big-time reporting assignments! Right, Yui?”
With the spotlight suddenly on her, Yui began to panic. “What?! Oh! Yeah! And... we were just talking about where we want to go scouting today!”
“Oh... I don’t know if I’d be any good as a journalist...”
“D-Don’t worry! Since it’s your first time, we’ll pick someplace easy. Right, Aoki?”
And with that, Kiriyama passed the baton to the guy paying the least amount of attention.
“Someplace easy?! Uhhh... Right... Right! We were sayin’ we should just pick someplace on campus, weren’t we, Taichi?”
Taichi had had a feeling someone would dump this on him at some point, and sure enough, it turned out he was up next. “R-Right. Someplace on campus...”
He shot a hopeful glance in Inaba’s direction—to which she responded with a dismal stare.
No, I can’t just dump this on my girlfriend... I need to be a man and figure this out myself!
“Uh... Which is why we decided we’ll be interviewing some other clubs!”
◆◇◆
And so it was decided that the CRC would investigate Yamaboshi club activities. It was a fairly decent suggestion, considering he’d come up with it on the spur of the moment, and Taichi was feeling rather pleased with himself.
They couldn’t all go in one large group or else they’d be distracting. Thus, the five second-years would flip a coin to split them into two “scouting teams”—Chihiro’s team would be heads, and Enjouji’s team would be tails. They would do this three times total, and each of these exercises would provide an opportunity for the second-years to show off their reporting skills while deepening their connection to their assigned newbie. (As usual, Inaba was a genius for coming up with this.)
After school, Enjouji and Chihiro both turned up (though they’d been worried the latter would ghost them), and the coin flip began...
Investigation round 1 found Team Heads (Taichi, Kiriyama, Aoki, and Chihiro) in Science Lab No. 2, paying a visit to the Calligraphy Club.
“Why calligraphy?” Aoki muttered.
“Because someone in my class invited us to visit,” Taichi replied.
“Hi there, folks! Come on in! Nice to see you, Yaegashi-kun, Yui-chan, and... miscellaneous male companions!” shouted Nakayama Mariko, full of energy, her pigtails bouncing. Speak of the devil.
“You don’t mind, do you, Nakayama-chan?” Kiriyama asked hesitantly.
“Of course not! It’s all good! We love to spice things up here in the Calligraphy Club! Right, guys?” Nakayama asked her clubmates.
“Pretty sure that’s just you,” one of them responded. Laughter ensued.
There were ten people present in the science lab—eight girls and two boys from varying grades—and the atmosphere was peaceful.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a while... You really don’t strike me as the calligraphy type, Nakayama.”
“Excuse me?! Is that a diss at me or a diss at the Calligraphy Club, Yaegashi-kun?!”
“It’s not a diss! I’m just saying, it doesn’t really gel with your overall vibe...”
“My vibe, huh? Alright then! You there, first-year! Er... you are a first-year, right?” Nakayama pointed at Chihiro. “What would you say is the Calligraphy Club’s ‘vibe’?”
“A niche for nerds.”
“Ouch! Surprisingly harsh, but okay!”
“Chihiro-kun! Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you should say it like that!” Kiriyama scolded.
At this, Chihiro rolled his eyes. “You realize you just validated my statement, right, Yui-san?”
“Hold it right there, you two! Call us nerds and I’ll pull the trigger on my pigtails!”
“Is that supposed to be remotely threatening? What does that even mean? Also, are you saying you’re okay with the ‘niche’ part?” Taichi retorted.
“That part is patently false! I’ll have you know, calligraphy is always in vogue within a five-kilometer radius of my location at any given time!”
“You’re clearly delusional, but it sounds awesome, at least!”
Nakayama was, if nothing else, refreshingly sincere.
After going through the basics of script technique, the CRC (plus Chihiro) was invited to try out calligraphy for themselves. The plan was to then write a report based on their experience.
“Alright, lesson’s over! You’re a certified calligrapher now! Come get some ink, paper, and a calligraphy brush. Then feel free to write whatever you like, and I’ll look it over for you!”
Nakayama seemed more than happy to play tutor for them, but Taichi felt guilty essentially taking over the Calligraphy Club’s activity for the day. He attempted to apologize to the other club members, but they waved him off, insisting it was nice to change things up every now and then. I guess Nakayama was right about you guys.
And so Taichi picked up a calligraphy brush for the first time since elementary school. Chihiro sat next to him at the lab table; beside him, Aoki and Kiriyama had a table to themselves.
“Alrighty! What to write, what to write... Oh, I know! Yui, let’s each write each other’s names so we can give them to each other as a gift!”
“Knock yourself out. I’m gonna write whatever I want and decorate my room with it.”
“Just so you know, my favorite words are—”
“You never know when to give up, do you?! Just shut up and write!”
“Ah, I missed this... Now that we’re in separate classes, you hardly ever yell at me anymore...”
“Gross! You’re being a creep! Someone save me! Chihiro-kuuun!”
Business as usual, I see.
“She’s calling for you,” Taichi prompted.
“I’m staying out of it,” Chihiro replied curtly. “I don’t want people thinking I’m as obnoxious as them.”
“Well... I can’t really argue with you there...”
Taichi lowered his eyes back to his paper and tried to think of something cool to write. Should I go with some kind of slogan? Or maybe a pro wrestling term... Maybe something I could give to Rina? Or Inaba, I guess, but that would be so cheesy...
“Normally I’d be at the dojo by now,” Chihiro muttered down at his paper.
Taichi turned to look at him. “You care a lot about karate, huh?”
“A fair bit, I suppose.”
“Are you gonna try for nationals or anything like that? Granted, I have no idea how hard that would be.”
“I don’t have any lofty goals like that. I’m not that stupid.”
“What? C’mon, it’s not stupid.”
“Sure it is. Just look at Yui-san. She’s a prodigy, is she not?”
“Kiriyama? Yeah, definitely.”
He could feel a hint of awkwardness between them, so he lowered his gaze back to his paper and dipped his brush into the ink... but he still couldn’t think of what to write. Instead, he fidgeted with the brush in his hand.
“Taichi-san?”
He looked up to find Chihiro staring at him intently. Normally he was the personification of apathy itself, but right now it was clear he was serious—
“Why am I here? Why am I doing this?”
Or apparently he’s just playing dumb. Ha ha, very funny. “Little late to the party on that one, don’t you think?”
“No, I’m serious. Is there an underlying reason?”
“What do you mean?”
“What I’m asking is, what is it exactly that we’re doing?” As he spoke, Chihiro twirled his still-pristine calligraphy brush between his fingers.
He had a valid point, of course. Just a few short hours ago, hanging out with the Calligraphy Club would’ve been the furthest thing from their minds, and yet here they were.
Taichi searched for an explanation. “This is just... how the Cultural Research Club works.” Sorry, but that’s the best I’ve got.
“I just don’t see the point.”
“Does there have to be a point?”
Chihiro’s gaze drifted to the window. “Honestly, I don’t really want to commit to a club when I’ve already got karate on my plate. I’m only doing it because the school rules are forcing me to.”
He was changing the subject, but Taichi let him continue.
“When the karate club refused to put me down as a nominal member, it turned the whole thing into a huge hassle, so I stopped caring and put it off... but now Yui-san’s started dragging me to visit you people and your poorly structured club, and so it’s become even more of a hassle...” He sighed and dropped his gaze to an empty corner of the table. “But once again, I find myself here...”
With the Cultural Research Club, in other words.
“So I’m just wondering, you know, is there a point to it or not?” Chihiro muttered to himself, so quietly Taichi couldn’t quite hear him. “But anyway...” At last, the younger boy met his gaze. “Am I meant to be here?”
There was an uncomfortable, probing look in his eyes that Taichi found himself wishing he could escape as soon as possible. A moment of silence passed between them, and somehow it seemed to drown out all background noise, Nakayama’s cheerful babbling included. Even the bickering between Aoki and Kiriyama felt distant.
“It’s not about whether you’re meant to be here. It’s about whether you want to be, you know?”
At this, Taichi thought he saw a hint of disappointment flicker in the other boy’s eyes... but he was pretty sure he’d said the right thing...
“A valid point,” Chihiro conceded.
Taichi heaved a small sigh of relief... then wondered why he felt so tense around someone who was younger than he was. “Right?” he replied casually.
But it was in that moment of relief that Chihiro struck again, almost as though he planned it.
“Taichi-san, do you actually want us to join the club?”
Of course I do, he thought... but he was startled to find that the words wouldn’t come. And the longer he silently screamed at himself to say something, the longer the lull in the conversation grew—
“Alright, that’s enough! Yaegashi-kun! And... Uwa-kun, was it? Less chatting, more writing!”
Just like that, Nakayama had shattered the moment between them before Taichi had had a chance to respond.
“Then again, Yamaboshi automatically approves all club member applications, so worst case scenario, I could always brute-force my way into the karate club if need be,” Chihiro mused, lazily dipping his brush into the ink.
And that was how the conversation ended.
Taichi did want new club members. He was happy to have Chihiro and Enjouji on board. But in the back of his mind, he could feel something weighing on him... though he wasn’t sure what it was.
Maybe it was the ever-present fear of «Heartseed»... or maybe it was something else entirely.
◆◇◆
As investigation round 1 came to an end, the five CRC members and two first-years met back up in the clubroom. Evidently, Team Tails (Inaba, Nagase, and Enjouji) had had a worthwhile experience visiting the brass band.
Then, after another coin flip, investigation round 2 began. This exercise found Team Tails (Taichi, Nagase, and Enjouji) up on the second floor of the North Wing.
“So, here we are at the Student Council Outreach Committee office. Come on in, everyone,” said Fujishima Maiko, former president of Class 1-C and current SCOC member.
“I really appreciate this, Fujishima. Sorry to intrude when you guys are so busy.”
“Don’t worry about it, Yaegashi-kun. Hee hee hee... For once, I’m needed by someone... Hee hee hee...” A dreamy smile played about her lips.
“Oh, please. We can always count on you, Fujishima-san!”
“C-Count on me...? No, you’re right! With you cheering me on, I have the motivation of a hundred men! I’d better work hard just for you, Nagase-san!”
It was nice to see her back to her usual self after that depressive episode.
“I... I appreciate this too... Th-Thank you!” Enjouji bowed. Evidently she felt obligated to express her gratitude as well.
“It’s no problem at all, Enjouji-san! You’re a cute little thing, aren’t you? So cute, I might just gobble you right up!”
“Okay, now you’re pushing it.” Taichi shifted slightly, positioning himself between Fujishima and Enjouji.
“Hmph... You know, it hurts that you’d treat my jokes as threats.”
“Sorry... Just a reflex.” He glanced behind him to find Enjouji shrinking into his shadow. She had this sweet-little-sister thing going for her that made him instinctively want to keep her safe... Not that she could ever be as cute as Rina, of course!
“Taichi, you’ve got that look on your face again. You’re thinking creepy thoughts, aren’t you? Just gonna go ahead and point that out.”
As usual, Nagase’s keen intuition was not to be underestimated.
“Just come in already, would you?!”
And so they quietly stepped inside.
The SCOC office was neat and orderly. Two tables were positioned in the center of the room, one medium-sized and one large, with two additional single desks in the corner. On both sides of the room, the walls were lined with file cabinets. All in all, it was approximately 50% larger than the CRC clubroom.
There were four people inside, one of whom showed them to their seats and made tea for them.
“We normally have more people, but most of the Committee is out running an errand right now,” Fujishima explained as she took a seat across the table from Taichi, Nagase, and Enjouji. “Now then, let’s get started... Wait, what are we doing again?”
Taichi’s image of Fujishima was one of hyper-competence. It wasn’t like her to play the ditz, even as a joke.
“Basically, we decided we’ll be reporting on Yamaboshi club activities for this month’s issue of the Culture Bulletin,” Nagase answered faithfully. “See, Yamaboshi has a ridiculous amount of clubs, and I figure at least some of them are bound to go unnoticed, y’know?”
“Oh my... Sounds like you’ll be doing some actual journalism for once... Normally you people always phone it in, you know. So-called ‘articles’ on what amounts to little more than your own personal hobbies—”
“LA LA LA LA, I CAN’T HEAR YOUUU!” Nagase hastily shouted to drone her out. After all, Enjouji wasn’t supposed to know that this thinly-veiled attempt to impress her was actually the CRC’s first-ever attempt to produce something respectable for the Bulletin.
“Phoning it in...? Personal hobbies...?”
“Don’t listen to her, Shino-chan! Some people just don’t understand our trend-setting methodology of putting the spotlight on each member’s individual expertise!”
“I’m not sure I follow you... but that sure was a lot of big words! You’re so cool, Iori-senpai! I want to be just like you someday!”
“Just remember, if anyone else tries to use this strategy to win you over, they’re lying to your face. Don’t trust them, okay, Shino-chan?”
Meanwhile, Taichi found he was starting to grow concerned for Enjouji’s future.
“In that case, I’ll start by explaining who we are and what it is we do,” Fujishima nodded. “As the name suggests, the Student Council Outreach Committee exists to support the student council. However, we are not directly part of the student council; we are composed of volunteers rather than elected into office, and our activities are strictly separate.”
“Right. Most people already know that, I think,” said Nagase.
“Naturally, the name alone tends to attract those who have an interest in student government. However...”
“Yes...?” Taichi prompted.
“The truth of the matter is... we’re just the student council’s lackeys! Mere pawns!”
At this, the four other SCOC members looked up swiftly from their work and started nodding.
“They make the decisions, and we carry them out. That’s how it works. But they use this arrangement as an excuse to dump whatever they want on us!” Her voice was steadily growing more and more passionate. “They don’t know what life is like out here on the streets! They just sit in their ivory towers!”
Apparently Yamaboshi High School was a microcosm of society itself. It sounded pretty intense.
“All this time, the Student Council Outreach Committee has performed countless impossible tasks at the behest of their masters...”
Taichi glanced over at the other SCOC members, and sure enough, they were still nodding along quietly.
“But not anymore... er... ma’am?” Nagase ventured.
Leave it to Fujishima Maiko to inspire someone her own age to refer to her as ma’am through sheer charisma alone!
“Well spotted, Nagase-san! Indeed, partway through I caught on to the inanity... and so I turned the tables and manipulated the student council to do my bidding!”
The SCOC members started applauding tearfully. Classic Fujishima Maiko, always quick to gain the upper hand!
“Um... But that’s also... past tense...?” Enjouji asked timidly.
In an instant, the energy drained from Fujishima’s body, and she slumped over. Gloom washed over the room as the other SCOC members hung their heads sadly.
“Huh...? Oh no... um... D-Did I hurt your feelings...?! I’m sor—Ouch!” Enjouji bowed so low, she smacked her forehead against the tabletop. “That hurt...”
“Yes... Past tense. Now we’re right back to where we started... All because they insulted me... Told me they couldn’t possibly entrust the whole school to me if I couldn’t even manage to win a class presidential election...” She lifted her glasses up to wipe her damp eyes. “Everyone fought for me, even the older students... but... because of my antics, the new year migration process became even more jumbled, and... I’m so sorry...”
“Don’t worry about it, Fujishima-san! We’ll get another chance!” one of the SCOC members reassured her, to a chorus of agreement from the others. “Just focus on recovering your strength for now. The rest of us can hold the fort down in the meantime.”
“Th... Thank you, everyone...!”
It was quite the emotional scene.
“D’awww, how sweet,” Nagase murmured.
“You’re right... All I have to do is pick myself back up again!” Fujishima exclaimed, flames of passion burning in her eyes once more.
“You can do it, Fujishima!” the crowd roared.
“Thank you... I promise, I won’t let you down!”
“That’s the spirit! Oh... Fujishima-san, it’s nearly time,” one of the girls piped up suddenly.
“Oh, you’re right. Time for the usual daily routine!”
“You guys have a routine? In that case, we’ll tag along so we can put it in the article!” said Nagase.
“Good call. I’m curious what a daily routine would look like for the Outreach Committee,” Taichi added.
“Fine by me. In that case, let’s all go to the locker rooms. You have your gym clothes, right?”
“...Why...?” asked Taichi and Nagase in unison.
“Isn’t it obvious? Because we’re going to exercise.”
“WHY?!”
“Uggghhh... Nnngghhh...” Enjouji groaned, lying on the floor.
“You can’t even manage ten push-ups? You really need to work on your stamina, Enjouji-san!”
“I... I’m sorry... I’m just... not very athletic...”
“Well, you’d better change that, or else you’ll never survive in this dog-eat-dog world!”
“Eeeek...!”
Standing in the corner in her gym clothes, Fujishima had transformed into the drill sergeant from hell.
“And you’d better not slack off either, Yaegashi-kun! You’re doing twice as many reps as the girls!”
“R-Right! Fifteen... Sixteen... Wait, what are we even doing?! How does this have anything to do with your club?!”
“What are you talking about? Any SCOC member worth their salt needs to have plenty of muscle and staying power!”
“So the whole club does this?!”
“Nope.”
“Damn it! This is just your daily routine, isn’t it?!” What are we doing? What are YOU doing, Fujishima Maiko?!
Fujishima sighed. “Enough whining, you pathetic little man... You really ought to take a leaf out of Nagase-san’s book.”
Taichi glanced over to find Nagase had already moved on from push-ups to sit-ups.
“Holy crap, this is so much FUN! I can feel myself getting buff!”
“You sure know how to go with the flow, don’t you...”
“I can’t... take it anymore...”
“It’s okay, Enjouji! Don’t push yourself too hard!”
“Enough chat, Yaegashi-kun! Now get that body moving!”
◆◇◆
Once the allotted time for round two was up, Team Tails escaped from Fujishima’s clutches and safely returned to the clubroom.
“My arms... My sides...” Enjouji whimpered.
“Sorry about that... I should’ve pointed it out sooner, but I got caught up in the moment...”
“N-N-No, that’s okay! D-D-Don’t worry about it, Taichi-senpai!” Enjouji blurted hastily, straightening herself up in her panic. Apparently talking to him made her even more tense than usual.
It was time for the final coin flip to determine the teams for round three. The results: Nagase, Aoki, and Chihiro on Team Heads, and Taichi, Inaba, Kiriyama, and Enjouji on Team Tails.
“Team Heads again? Maaan, I wish I could’ve hung out with Shino-chan at least once,” Aoki sighed.
“Wanna trade?” Taichi offered.
“Oh, no, that’s alright. A real man always plays by the rules!”
“Personally, I’m tired of dealing with him every time,” Chihiro remarked.
“HEY! How is it you new kids already know how to dunk on me?!”
“Oh well. At least I get Nagase-san this time. That helps balance it out.”
“What’s your barometer for this, exactly?!”
“Well now, someone sure seems to like me an awful lot! You know, you could always call me Iori-san, if you want!”
“No thanks.”
“You punk... You’re such a little tsundere, you know that?”
“Looks like they’re getting along swimmingly,” Taichi muttered.
“On the surface, at least,” Inaba replied.
“What are you implying?”
“Hmm? Oh, no, I wasn’t trying to imply anything. Don’t read too much into it.” She tilted her head. “On the surface...?” she muttered to herself in a small voice, as if even she wasn’t sure why she’d said it.
“Taichi, can I borrow you?” Nagase whispered, pulling him away. “I know it’s too late to change teams... which means I really need you to keep an eye on Kaoru-chan and Inaban, okay?”
“Kaoru...? Ohhh, Setouchi. Right.”
Team Tails was scheduled to visit the Student Volunteer Club, of which 2-B’s class president Setouchi Kaoru was a member. And the CRC had some history with Setouchi.
“...So basically, the SVC works with external organizations to help with charity or volunteer work... Not that I’m one to talk, considering I didn’t exactly pull my weight last year,” Setouchi explained to them as she reviewed the general outline of the club.
“This is all good information to have. I appreciate you laying it out for us, Setouchi. Gotta say, though, I didn’t know you were in this club back then! That’s a bit surprising,” Taichi mused. While she certainly looked the part now, with her formerly bleached hair now dark and tidy, back then she was a paragon of a rebel girl.
“Yeah... But I did join, though. Technically.” Blushing, Setouchi averted her gaze. Evidently praise made her bashful... and if so, it was something she had in common with Inaba.
“Just so we’re clear, though, no amount of charity work will make up for all the fucked-up shit you did in the past,” Inaba cut in harshly.
Setouchi withered a bit. “Right,” she nodded solemnly.
“And don’t get full of yourself, either. Maybe everyone else wants to give you asspats for changing your tune, but me? I’d say the real heroes are the kids who were never delinquents to begin with.”
“Yeah. You’re completely right.”
“C-Come on, Inaba! Knock it off. We’re supposed to be having fun, remember?” Kiriyama scolded her.
“You people are too damn soft... Anyway, I’ll stop. I just wanted to put that out there.”
“I’m sorry,” Setouchi apologized, her head bowed.
“Um, guys...? Am I missing someth... Actually, never mind! I’m not going to ask!”
Probably for the best, Enjouji...
An awkward silence descended between them.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, now,” Inaba continued after a pause. “I hate what you did, and I hate that everyone kisses your ass for getting your act together... but I don’t hate you as a person.” Her tone took on a gentle warmth.
Setouchi hesitated. “Th... Thanks,” she replied after a moment, her voice similarly affectionate.
“Hey, Yui-senpai? I’m not smart enough to figure this out on my own, but... is this that ‘tsundere’ thing everyone talks about?”
“Sure is, Shino-chan! This is classic tsundere content. If Iori were here, I bet she’d be giving Inaba a new nickname right about now. Like Tsunaba! Or Tsuna-bashful!”
“Shut the fuck up, Yui! If anyone’s a tsundere, it’s you!”
“Not true! Right, Shino-chan?”
“Oh... ummmm... I’ll just say you’re both tsundere and leave it at that...”
“I’m not!” Inaba and Kiriyama shouted in unison.
“This Saturday we’re running an offsite Blindness Simulation event, and so today is kind of our dry run,” Setouchi explained.
“Oh yeah, they did one of those at my middle school one time! You wear a sleep mask over your eyes so you can experience what blind people go through in their day-to-day lives, right?” asked Kiriyama.
Setouchi nodded. “Yep! And we need to do a practice run of the entire process, so I was thinking we’d have you be our practice participants. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good to me! It’s the least we can do, seeing as we totally barged in on you guys anyway.”
“I... I’ve never done this before... but I’d like to try,” Enjouji added.
“Awesome. We owe you one.”
“Taichi wearing a blindfold... with me guiding him around... Me, the only one he can rely on without his sight... Heh heh heh... Now that’s a kink I could get into. Let’s do it.”
“Inaba, are you hearing yourself right now...?” And what do you mean, kink?! Have you forgotten why we’re doing this?!
“Okay, we’ll pair Inaba-san with Yaegashi-kun, and Yui-chan with... Enjouji-chan, was it?” Setouchi handed each pair a sleep mask to use as a blindfold, as well as a paper sign to hang around the blindfolded person’s neck. The sign read BLINDNESS SIMULATION IN PROGRESS.
“What’s with this stupid sign? It’s, like, totally not cute at all!” Kiriyama complained.
“We have to have people wear them for safety reasons since we’ll be doing this outside,” Setouchi explained.
“Okaaay...” Kiriyama sighed as she reluctantly put hers on.
“We’ll start by having you walk all the way to that flower bed over there. Keep in mind the things I warned you about earlier... There aren’t a lot of people out here, but the ground is uneven, so you’ll want to be mindful of any tripping hazards. After this round, we’ll practice using a cane with each other... Er, not like that...”
“Setouchi, not you too... Get your mind out of the gutter...” Taichi muttered under his breath. He refused to let Inaba’s wildly inappropriate comments rub off on anyone else.
And so it was decided that Taichi would go first, with Inaba as his guide.
“Now then, conceal thy sight...”
“Can you just say ‘put your mask on’ like a normal person...?” Regardless, he did as requested. “Whoa, these things are effective. I can’t see a thing...”
Of all the five senses, Taichi felt losing his sight would be the scariest. After all, he wouldn’t be able to perceive his surroundings without it... and that frightened him.
Meanwhile, his hearing, touch, and sense of smell all felt weirdly heightened.
“Taichi...”
He could hear Inaba’s voice. Following it like a beacon, he reached a hand in her direction. Soft fingers interlaced with his. He could feel the warmth of her skin.
He reached out to her because he trusted her, and she reached back because she was worthy of that trust. It was a tiny gesture, and yet somehow it meant the world to him. Trust builds trust. And this was proof of their unshakeable bond—not only with each other, but probably the rest of the CRC, too.
“Okay, let’s go.”
With Inaba guiding him, Taichi took a step forward... then another... then another. She was the one thing he could rely on, and so all of his remaining senses honed in on her—so sharp, he felt like he could feel her skin respirating.
“Wanna try holding onto something that isn’t my hand?” she offered out of nowhere, and he found himself wishing he could see her expression. “Go on!”
“W-Wait! Don’t let go of my hand!” Taichi panicked, groping blindly—
“Hnnn!” Inaba whimpered. “That’s not where I meant, dummy...”
“Oh god, where am I touching you?! It feels like I’m somewhere near your stomach or hips, but maybe I’m wrong?! Maybe your breasts are just weirdly bony and—Gwegh!” Something collided with his head. Probably her hand.
“Of course not! That’s my hip, okay?! I was just messing with you, damn it!”
“What, really? Oh... That’s kind of adorable, actually...”
“M-Me? Adorable? You big dummy...!”
“Could you two quit flirting?” Setouchi asked coldly from somewhere behind them.
“Sorry...”
Eventually curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to remove his blindfold so he could see what was going on. He noticed Kiriyama and Enjouji at the starting area, getting ready to begin.
“O-Okay, here we go, Yui-senpai! Don’t worry—I’ll help you as best I can!” Enjouji stiffly extended a hand to Kiriyama, who had put on her sleep mask.
“Okay. Let me know if it looks like I’m gonna crash into anything,” Kiriyama replied.
And yet, despite the blindfold, Kiriyama strode off at her regular pace. Had she not sensed Enjouji offering her hand?
“Huh...? Y-Yui-senpai! You’re supposed to take my... How are you walking normally?!”
“Huh? I mean, even without your sight, you can still kinda sense all the spiritual energy, right?”
“What spiritual energy?! Are you a monk or something?!” Taichi retorted.
Their favorite karate prodigy was so incredible, she had apparently ascended to another plane of existence.
“Y-You’re amazing, Yui-senpai...! Wait for me—ACK!” Meanwhile, Kiriyama’s non-blindfolded partner tripped and fell.
“Are you okay, Shino-chan? Here, take my hand.”
“Ow ow ow... I think I might’ve sprained my ankle...”
“What?! Is it serious?!”
“No, no, I’m okay!”
“Kiriyama is blindfolded, right? Or am I seeing things?” Taichi muttered in disbelief.
“Don’t worry. I see it, too... I’m gonna need to update her records...”
The hell kind of database does she have on us...? Is this her information gathering hobby at work...?
“Some practice run this is turning out to be,” Setouchi sighed. “At the end of the day, I want you to focus not on the fear you felt, but on the fact that there are actual people who experience this struggle on a daily basis. Armed with this knowledge, we can make the world a kinder place for those with disabilities.”
And so investigation round three came to an end.
◆◇◆
By the time it was all over, the sun had started to set. Beneath the scarlet sky, amid other students headed home from club practice, the CRC and their two candidates walked across the athletic field toward the school gates, the five second-years lagging slightly behind the first-years.
“So, how’d it go? Did it work?” Nagase quietly asked the rest of the CRC.
“I mean, it was fun, and I think the newbies enjoyed themselves...” Kiriyama trailed off.
“Me and Chihiro are real good friends now... to the point that he doesn’t even respect me as his senpai!” Aoki declared.
“But that doesn’t guarantee they’ll join us,” said Inaba.
“It’s hard to say whether they actually like the CRC...” Taichi added anxiously.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Why are we all so pessimistic? C’mon, guys! Have! Some! Faith!” Nagase clapped her hands to emphasize her point.
“Why don’t you go ask them?” Inaba suggested.
“I mean, I would, but... it feels kinda pushy...” It was rare to see Nagase so hesitant.
“What happened to ‘have some faith’?” Inaba snarked. Then she strode up to Chihiro and Enjouji. “Chihiro! Shino! Did you have a good time with us today? This is the sort of thing we do in the CRC... more or less. All that’s left now is to put it in article format and add it to the Culture Bulletin. That said, we can be flexible on subject matter, so if there’s ever a topic you want to cover, you can let us know and we’ll arrange for it... so... uh...” For some reason, her confidence began to peter out. She cleared her throat, then continued, “Have you come to a decision about joining us?”
At this, the two first-years came to a stop. In response, the four other second-years stopped short a small distance away to observe.
“Well...”
“Umm... Ummmmm...”
The two younger students glanced over at Taichi and the others, who all froze like a herd of deer in headlights.
“...I’m still thinking about it...”
“...I-I’m not sure...”
—Two days left until club applications close.
◆◇◆
The next morning, in Classroom 2-B...
“Guys, we really gotta make this happen! Today’s the last day before the deadline!” Nagase shouted.
“Yeah... I’m just not sure what more we can do...” Taichi mused.
They’d had a lot of fun yesterday... What more could they possibly offer?
“They both seem like they’re on board... Shino-chan came to us of her own volition, so she’s obviously interested, and Chihiro-kun has been asking me a lot of questions at the dojo...” Kiriyama murmured.
“Really? He has?”
“Yeah. He’s, like, weirdly enthusiastic for once? But of course, he never says one way or the other if he’ll join...”
The two of them had said they’d stop by the club again that afternoon, so it was clear they had a reasonable interest in joining. Otherwise, why would they waste their time?
And yet something was holding them back, be it some kind of apprehension on their part, or a lack of decisive evidence in the club’s favor.
“We just gotta show them another awesome day of club activities! Make ‘em really wanna join us!” Nagase insisted.
Their current plan was to do another round of club investigations.
“I just don’t think that’s enough,” said Kiriyama.
“Mmm... Yeah, probably not...” Nagase’s face fell.
Just then, a tall, slender girl with wavy bleached hair walked up to them. “Well, well, if it isn’t the CRC trio, looking utterly miserable before class has even started.”
It was Kiriyama’s good friend Kurihara Yukina, known for being candid and outspoken.
“Oh! Like, good morning, Yukina!”
“You guys wanted to sit in on track practice this afternoon, right?”
“Yeah, but there’s kind of a problem...”
Once Kiriyama explained the situation, Kurihara nodded pensively. “Gotcha... So you’re in this weird space where you’re not sure if these kids are gonna join your club, and you don’t know what to do about it?”
“Yup,” Kiriyama nodded.
“Well, I understand why they wouldn’t want to rush into anything. It’s kinda hard to change clubs here at Yamaboshi, you know?”
“Yeahhh...”
“Rrgh...!”
“What’s wrong?”
Kurihara sighed. “I’m just such a sucker for your sad puppydog face... It makes me want to rescue you somehow...”
“You’re gonna be a good mom someday, Yukina-chan,” Nagase commented casually. “Either that, or you’ll end up enabling some deadbeat loser husband.”
“I didn’t need that last part, thanks,” Kurihara retorted. “Well, if it’s any consolation, you guys aren’t alone in this. Every club struggles with how to get new members this time of year. That’s why the track team’s having our big marathon race today. We do it every year on the day of the deadline.”
“How come?” asked Nagase.
“Think about it! Accomplishing something brings everyone together, you know? The first-years give it their all to make it across that finish line, and when they get there, us older students are there to pat them on the back... and then after that we have a BBQ party! Doesn’t that sound like a great time?”
“Holy crap! You’re a genius!” Kiriyama exclaimed, clapping her hands, and Kurihara thrust out her chest proudly.
“Not like Kurihara came up with it herself...”
“That’s pretty clever, actually. Use the pretense of exercise to weed out the lazy ones!”
“Yaegashi! Iori! Can’t you people just say it’s cool and leave it at that?!”
“Aww, I’m just joking, Yukina-chan! Anyway, sounds like we should try getting crafty ourselves!” Nagase suggested.
“Like what?” Kiriyama asked.
“Hmmm... Figure out what it is they like about the CRC, then play those aspects up?”
“Makes sense,” Taichi nodded.
“Hmmmmm...” the three of them murmured.
“You know, this is just a thought, but...”
“What is it, Yukina?”
“How would anyone be interested in the CRC when no one knows what it is you people do all day?”
“Oh,” the three of them responded in unison.
She had a good point. Sure, it was possible the CRC just seemed like a fun time, but the same could be said of pretty much any other club.
“So I’m thinking... Maybe what they’re really interested in is you guys,” Kurihara continued.
Interested... in us? As individuals, or as a group?
“Then it’s settled!” Nagase jumped to her feet. “We just gotta show ‘em how awesome we are!”
Personally, Taichi wasn’t so sure about this, but he couldn’t exactly argue.
“Yes! I’ll show them how badass and cute I am!” Apparently Kiriyama was completely on board with this plan; the look on her face was positively radiant.
“Alright, now we just need some kind of big event... I’ve got it! Yukina-chan!”
The president of the Cultural Research Club was on a roll, and there were no brakes on this train.
“Huh?”
“We’ll join your marathon as part of our club investigation! It can be just me and Yui, since we’re the most athletic members of the club. All we need is to run the same course as you, and then Chee-hee and Shino-chan can document it from the sidelines! This plan is flawless!”
“What? Slow down a sec! This is the track team’s marathon! Why would we let you randos join?! You’re not even a sports team!”
“C’mon, what’s the harm? Right, Yui?”
“Right! Besides, the CRC can handle anything! We’re like a... jack of all trades!”
“And master of none,” Taichi snarked.
“Look, I get what you’re saying, but I don’t know...”
“Please, Yukina? You can pull some strings, can’t you...?” Kiriyama looked up at Kurihara, puppy-dogging.
Kurihara grimaced. “Ugh, forget it! Fine, you win!”
A sucker for Kiriyama, indeed.
◆◇◆
According to Kurihara, when she asked the third-years about the CRC participating, the response was instantaneous:
“What?! The Cultural Research Club wants to join the marathon?! As in, the club with all the hot girls in it?! Of course they’re allowed to join! Have them join us for the barbecue, too! Five hundred yen cover charge, girls get in free!”
“Ugh... The track team is a total sausage fest, and the boys all reek of desperation... I wish they’d realize that’s why they aren’t getting laid...” Kurihara sighed. (It was pretty brutal.)
And so it was decided that the two most athletic members of the club, Nagase and Kiriyama, would take part in the marathon—along with Aoki, who begged to join for some reason—while everyone else documented the results.
However, when they relayed this information to Enjouji in the clubroom after school—
“Can... Can I join the marathon, too?!”
“No, no, you don’t have to run with us! Just sit back and let us handle it!” Nagase insisted.
But Enjouji held her ground. “P-Please... I want to do everything you guys do... That’s what it means to ‘sit in’ on club activities!” She had puffed herself up to her fullest height, her eyes shining with determination. “Once I prove I can keep up with the rest of you... That’s when I’ll...” She paused, glanced around at each of them... and suddenly wilted. “I mean... if it’s just going to cause problems for the rest of you, then don’t worry about it... I know I don’t have the stamina for a marathon... I should probably quit while I’m ahead...”
“Aww, Shino-chan! Okay, you’ve won me over with your courage! If you wanna run with us, then I’m not gonna stop you!”
“Yay!”
Unfortunately, this triggered a chain reaction.
“In that case, I’ll run the marathon too,” said Chihiro.
“You too?!” Kiriyama exclaimed.
“Not for the same reasons as her, mind you. I just figure I may as well get a good workout while I’m at it.”
“Oooh!” Nagase squealed, practically vibrating with glee. “Look at you kids, all hyped up! In that case... I guess we’ll all run the marathon!”
And so the five members of the CRC, plus Chihiro and Enjouji, all put on their gym clothes and headed to the nature park where the marathon was to be held.
“What’s with the bicycle, Inaba?” Taichi asked. Everyone else was on foot except her.
“Hmph! I’ve volunteered to supervise the race and keep everyone out of trouble. Aren’t I selfless?”
“...Okay, what’s your real reason?”
“I’m not gonna kill myself running for no reason, dumbass.”
She was nothing if not honest.
“Wait... You don’t ride your bike to school... Where’d you even get one?”
“Borrowed it from Fujishima. These days she’ll do anything if it’ll make her feel useful in some regard.”
“A-Anything...?” Taichi swallowed.
Her gaze hardened. “Your mind better not be in the gutter right now.”
“N-Nonsense! Of course not, my queen! Hahaha!”
“Alright, I’d better get going.” Inaba started to pedal away—then stopped short. “Whoops... Almost forgot.” She reversed her bicycle until she was right beside Taichi, leaned in, and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Wh... Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He felt her soft lips against his skin.
“Hee hee! Consider it a magic spell that’ll help you make it across the finish line.”
All of a sudden, he felt strangely motivated.
“Look, uh... Listen... I appreciate—really appreciate—getting a kiss on the cheek from you for the first time ever—but don’t you think maybe we shouldn’t do that in front of everyone?!”
He could feel the others staring at them with mixed reactions: surprise, disgust, envy.
At this, Inaba gasped and snapped to her senses. Apparently she hadn’t even realized where they were. Love sure is blind, I guess!
“Oh... uhh... Well then... um... Kill me nooow!” Screaming, Inaba took off on her bike like a bat out of hell.
Meanwhile, Taichi had broken out in a sweat, his heart thumping as if he’d already run the marathon. He took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down.
Since the seven of them were guests more than main participants, the CRC lined up at the back, behind the thirty or so track-affiliated students. Among them, one girl stepped out—tall and androgynous, with sharp features and a pixie cut. It was Oosawa Misaki, the girl who had once confessed her love to Kiriyama and taken her out on a date (which the rest of the CRC had... chaperoned). It was quite the memorable occasion.
“Yui-chan!”
“Misaki-chan!”
The two girls exchanged a high-five.
“Nobody told me you were running with us today! I laughed so hard when I heard about it. Someone ought to rein you in, girl!”
“Sorry to spring it on you guys...”
They seemed like perfectly good friends, not a hint of awkwardness to be seen. Meanwhile, Aoki was watching them like a hawk.
“Well, see you after the race—Actually, knowing you, you might just beat us all to the finish line!”
“Aww, no way! I don’t stand a chance against the whole track team! I’ll see you at the finish line, though!”
Once Kiriyama had finished speaking to Oosawa, Taichi called out to her. “Hey, Kiriyama?”
“What?!” Kiriyama hissed, practically leaping down his throat for no reason... Well, no. She had reason enough to be on guard, considering he’d been an accomplice in tailing her on her date. Would it be wrong of him to ask her in Aoki’s place? He wasn’t sure.
Meanwhile, a pink-faced Kiriyama started to explain herself of her own accord. “I don’t know what it is you people are so worried about, but...” She paused briefly to glance at Aoki, then turned away. “Me and Misaki-chan are just friends. There’s nothing else going on.”
“Huh?!” Aoki yelped.
Kiriyama’s blush burned even brighter. “L-Look, I’m... I’m not just twiddling my thumbs over here, okay?!” she snapped back.
“Wait, so... If you’ve turned her down, then... does that mean you picked me?!”
“What? No! Who said anything about picking you?! That’s not what I said at all!” she insisted fervently. “Forget it! I’m gonna go do warm-ups!” And with that, she ran off.
“Taichi... I think I might just break a world record today...”
“R-Right on...” And so Taichi left him to bask in the afterglow of the moment.
At that point, he spotted Nagase talking to the two first-years, so he headed over to join them.
“Let’s both try to make it to the finish line, okay, Shino-chan?”
“Oh, um... Don’t worry about me. You can run at your own pace... I want to prove I can keep up with you without a handicap... That way I’ll have confidence in myself...”
“Hmmm... Well, if that’s what you really want... You sure?”
“Y-Yeah!”
“What about you, Chee-hee? I’m guessing you’ll do your own thing.”
“Correct.”
“I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting you to volunteer for this, Chihiro,” Taichi cut in.
At this, Chihiro turned his perpetually dismal stare on Taichi. “And now you’re annoyed because you got roped into it as well?”
“Nah. If I really didn’t want to do this, I could drop out anytime. I was just surprised by it, that’s all.”
“Surprised... Right...” Chihiro muttered under his breath, averting his gaze.
“Uh... Anyways!” Nagase continued in a tone of forced cheer. “Be honest with me, guys... You’re both dying to join the club, right?”
Silence.
Here they were in their gym clothes, about to run a marathon for no real reason... and yet somehow the first-years still didn’t have an answer.
Nagase’s smile faltered. “O-Okay, let me rephrase the question. What is it about the Cultural Research Club that appeals—”
“Everyone to the starting line, please!”
And so the track team’s annual April marathon race began before she could finish her question.
◆◇◆
In, out, in, out. My breath forms a steady rhythm, pumping oxygen through my body.
My pace is perfectly steady—not too lazy, nor am I trying too hard.
The girls have to run nine kilometers. As for the guys, we take a three-kilometer detour partway through, adding up to twelve kilometers total. It’s a fair bit more than I’d like to run, ideally, but at my current speed, I should arrive at the finish line without needing to catch my breath like a total loser.
And since I’m “competing” against a bunch of people from the track team, I’m not even going to bother trying to win. Not like I have anything to prove.
For that matter, why am I running in the first place?
The Cultural Research Club.
They gave me a whole long-winded spiel, but in essence, it’s a club with no real direction or discipline aside from publishing a monthly periodical called the “Culture Bulletin.” And if Yui-san hadn’t dragged me there, I wouldn’t have given a club like that a second glance.
No goals, no value, no significance. Seriously, I fail to comprehend how these people operate...
And yet, for some reason, here I am...
No, I’m not like them. I have a goal: to seek understanding. Still, I can’t help but wonder how long I’m going to entertain this little charade. Am I really going to join this utterly pointless club just to “understand them”? Talk about cringey. There’s nothing more pathetic than someone who jumps to conclusions after failing to read social cues.
Speaking of pathetic, I had assumed Enjouji would be obnoxious in that regard as well, but as it turns out, she actually has a good grasp on these things. She’s not stupid, just slow.
At this stage, it would be too much of a hassle to try to find another club, but at least that way I wouldn’t be stuck with a bunch of morons... Why did I put it off so long, anyway? Why couldn’t I have figured this out yesterday or the day before, back when I still had some time?
Anyway... I wonder what Enjouji will decide. I’m pretty sure she’s been to a few other clubs... Surely she can’t be that dense, right?
Just then, I spot the girl in question, jogging along in her gym uniform, her fluffy brown hair bobbing up and down. Looks like I’ve already caught up to her, despite the extra three-kilometer detour.
She’s so out of shape and sluggish. Why would she volunteer herself to do this? Just look at the way she’s running! She’ll never make it to the goal like th—
Wait, hold on. She’s limping on her right foot...?
I don’t know what happened to her, but she’s clearly struggling... Not that it’s any of my business. And even if it were, there’s nothing I can do about it.
As I pass her, I decide the least I can do is say something.
“You alright? No need to force yourself. Seriously.” And with that, I jog ahead of her.
In between ragged gasps for breath, she wheezes out “Yes, sir...!”
Sir? I’m the same age as you, dumbass.
I keep running.
I can sense Enjouji behind me. I didn’t get a look at her face as I passed her, but I’ll bet she looks like a sad puppy right about now.
I keep running.
Her heavy breathing fades into the distance. I’m really curious why she wanted to take part in this marathon... She made it sound like this race would settle the score somehow. As if the mere act of crossing the finish line would decide things once and for all.
Granted, I don’t know what she’s set as her benchmark, but if she’s hoping to come in first or beat some record, she’s boned. That said, if all she cares about is crossing the finish line period, then maybe... Wait, why am I even thinking about this? Ridiculous. Who cares?
I keep running.
Either way, she’s just going to embarrass herself.
I keep running.
How will this little charade end? I just want to see it for myself, that’s all. I just want to know. I want to see what she does, and I want to see how they react to it. End of story.
In which case—
“Tsk... Guess I don’t have a choice, now do I?”
◆◇◆
The finish line was located at the top of a small mountain within the nature park, with long, gentle slopes leading all the way to the top.
After the better part of an hour, most of the entrants had successfully crossed the finish line, the CRC included. Thus, most of the track team was off getting the barbecue party set up.
Kiriyama was quite pleased with herself, as she had been one of the first few to arrive. Then Nagase turned up a short while later, pouring sweat. Bringing up the rear were Taichi and Aoki, both gasping for breath, as well as Inaba atop her borrowed bike (who naturally wasn’t winded in the slightest, and yet she still had the nerve to complain about the mountain incline).
Fortunately, by this point they’d all recovered and were ready to have a good time... except for one small problem: Chihiro and Enjouji were nowhere to be seen.
Inaba lounged idly on her bike while the others sat on the grass.
“Man, where are they? Maybe I should’ve stuck with Shino-chan after all... but I was worried she’d think I don’t respect her...” Nagase muttered.
“Chihiro-kun’s probably running with her. Otherwise, like, there’s no reason why he’d be this late,” said Kiriyama.
“He’s definitely with her. A few people told me they saw the two of them together on their way here,” Inaba replied.
“In which case we’ll just have to wait,” said Taichi. “Not like they’ll give up and go home partway through, right?”
“Taichi! Don’t jinx us!” Nagase snapped.
“They both wanted to be in this race. They’ll get here,” Kiriyama murmured... whether to them or to herself, Taichi wasn’t sure.
“That’s the spirit!” Aoki replied brightly. “And once they cross the finish line, they’re gonna join the club!”
Nagase flopped onto her back on the grass. “Uggghhh... I’m not sure about this... We had so much fun investigating the other clubs... and then today the plan was to show off and make ourselves look cool, but we ended up running as a group... I just hope we can win them over this time...”
“We’ve done all we can. Now all we can do is wait and see if...” Taichi began, but stopped short. Wait, what?
At this, Inaba spoke up suddenly, as if something had just dawned on her. “I know we agreed this was for the best, but... it feels like all we’ve done is sit around.”
“Yeah... Just sitting around...” Aoki echoed.
“On our butts...” Kiriyama added.
“We’ve been doing that a lot lately, don’t you think?” asked Nagase.
She was right, of course. Granted, this was the stance they’d all decided upon at the beginning, but still.
On the first day Chihiro visited, Inaba had asked, “Do you have any interest in joining us?” to which he replied, “I’ll actively consider it.” And yet no one said a word.
Later, Chihiro had asked him, “Taichi-san, do you actually want us to join the club?”—a question to which he had had no answer.
Then, at the end of club investigations, Inaba had once again asked them, “Have you come to a decision about joining us?” At this, the two first-years had glanced over in their direction, and yet none of them had lifted a finger.
They’d wanted the newbies to join, and so they’d been trying to show off... but what about the next step?
“I’m just wondering... Why haven’t we flat-out told them we want them to join?”
This question from Nagase hit Taichi like a brick. Once again, she was right. They’d just sat around on their laurels, waiting for the other side to make the first move.
“What if, like... that’s the reason they haven’t made up their mind?” Kiriyama asked.
Their club was vague and generally formless, and only two new kids wanted to join them. In terms of same-age friends, they would only have each other, as well as five older students.
Thinking about it, there were countless reasons to hesitate... and yet they came to the CRC anyway. To do so must have taken a tremendous amount of courage. But when it came to the second-years, the five of them were entirely noncommittal.
They’d held the door open, but hadn’t tried to give the new kids that final push. Why? Mostly because of «Heartseed»... but there was more to it than just that.
“Y’know, I’ve been thinkin’... We’re all kinda scared to let anyone else join, huh?”
Aoki had hit the nail on the head.
“I don’t want to admit it, but... it makes sense,” Nagase whispered, and the others nodded.
Taichi closed his eyes. There, in the darkness, he felt perfectly safe, like he was right where he belonged.
The Yamaboshi High School Cultural Research Club was its own tight-knit community, and... if he was being completely honest with himself... he was a tiny bit afraid of losing that. Maybe the others felt similarly.
This would certainly explain why Chihiro and Enjouji wouldn’t commit to joining the club. Trust builds trust.
“We wanted them to join, but at the same time we were afraid of them actually doing it, huh?” Inaba mused. “We told ourselves we’d be fine with them joining as long as we didn’t actively invite them in, but at the end of the day, it didn’t matter how they joined us. Either way, the risk would still be there. All we really wanted was a reason to feel less guilty about it.” She paused. “Anyway, I’m probably preaching to the choir.”
Indeed she was. Taichi knew she was right... He’d simply been turning a blind eye to it.
“We need to open up to them without just dancing around it,” Nagase declared.
“Yeah... Looking back, we’ve really been phoning this in. Maybe we’re still settling into the new school year or something...” Inaba grimaced.
Meanwhile, Taichi ruminated on this.
Their club appeared to have little significance or value, and yet two kids wanted to join it anyway. But as for the existing members, despite having full knowledge of the club’s worst aspects, they all sat around like pompous jerks, dumping the responsibility on their younger peers. They shied away from the risk, yet they still wanted the reward. How unbelievably arrogant.
Swallowing his pride, Taichi turned to the others. It was time to take a stand.
“Hey, guys? Now that we’ve got everything out on the open, let me ask you all again... Do you still want new members?”
Everyone nodded.
“You want Chihiro and Enjouji to join us?”
They nodded again.
Then, finally, Taichi said the words that had evaded him for so long: “I want them to join, too. And I know it might be too little, too late... but I think we should tell them, and...”
There, he faltered. Part of him was afraid that what he was suggesting was, in actuality, an extremely cruel thing to do.
But when he saw the encouraging looks on the others’ faces, that fear vanished into the ether.
“By doing this, we might be exposing them to «Heartseed»... but I think we should own up to that.”
We can do this. The five of us can do anything. Add two new faces, and that’ll only make us stronger. We’ll have a blast!
Sure, we may not have the final say... but we can at least tell them how we feel.
And then we’ll all band together to fight «Heartseed»!
◆◇◆
It really, really hurts.
My left ankle is screaming at me to stop, and after putting all my weight on my other foot, now my right ankle is mad at me, too. They’re probably both swollen. And since I can’t run anymore, we’ve decided to just walk the rest of the way.
“Good grief... Why would you volunteer to run today if you twisted your ankle yesterday?” Chihiro-kun snaps as he walks beside me.
“I... I’m sorry... I kinda forgot... right up until we started running...”
I’m so embarrassed, I want to disappear.
“Fine, whatever...”
He’s been walking with me the whole rest of the way ever since he caught up to me.
“Listen, um... Maybe you should just go on without me.”
“What, and waltz across the finish line while you’re down here limping? Believe it or not, that would take more spine than I have. Now then, the arrow’s pointing this way, so... Oh, for crying out loud...”
He comes to a stop, and I follow suit.
I look up from the ground to find a long, sloping hill just ahead. Apparently this is the last hurdle before the finish line.
“Did they really have to end the race on top of a mountain? What a dick move,” Chihiro-kun mutters, then glances at me. “Look, you did the best you could. I’ll go up to the finish line and get some help, and then we can head home. Actually, I’m not sure anyone will be waiting for us up there... Not like we’re part of the track team...”
“Wh... But... But...!” The protest catches in my throat. Maybe I just... have to give up. “You’re right... If they’re still up there, then they’re probably bored of waiting for me...”
Everybody else crossed the finish line a long, long time ago—including the CRC. And they’re all probably off at the barbecue party by now.
In the end, they’ll never see me. I’ll always be lagging behind them for the rest of my life.
Oh well. That’s just the way the world is, and I have to accept that—
“Look, Enjouji... Why did you want to join this stupid club, anyway?” Chihiro-kun asks me out of nowhere.
I hesitate. I don’t see how the flow of the conversation led him to that.
“Hello? Are you listening?” he snaps, scowling.
“Huh?! Oh! Yes, I’m listening!” Okay, let’s see. “To be honest... I wouldn’t presume I’m allowed to join, per se, but...”
“Spare me the pretense of humility. You came to sit in with them of your own volition, and then you volunteered to run a marathon with them. It couldn’t be more obvious what you’re after.”
“...Which means it applies to you too, right?”
“Are you trying to piss me off?”
“N-No, no! Of course not!”
Why would he think that? I don’t get it.
I take a deep breath.
“They’re just... perfect. They’re my dream, I guess. I’m the moth, and they’re the flame... Haha...”
I add in a joke at the end, but Chihiro-kun doesn’t laugh. Instead he stares intently, almost like he’s impressed. Maybe the two of us are a little bit similar... After all, we’re both interested in the CRC, aren’t we?
“Okay, but... why them, specifically?” Chihiro-kun asks.
“I don’t know... Something deep down tells me they’re the best.”
For a moment I worry that he’ll yell at me and tell me to be more specific, but he doesn’t.
“The best at what, I wonder...” he mumbles.
It’s weird... Standing here beneath the melancholy of twilight, it feels like I can say whatever I want and he won’t think I’m dumb.
“Everything. That’s why I’m worried I don’t belong there.”
“Yeah... I can relate.”
I wasn’t expecting him to agree with me, but I’m a tiny bit glad he does... so I keep going.
“Knowing them, if I tell them I want to join, they’ll let me in right away... but that doesn’t guarantee I’ll be able to keep up with them. To this day, they don’t seem sure of whether we’ll join or not... and I just...”
This is why I’m stuck in a rut, isn’t it? Maybe if I put my foot down, I could change... but at the same time, I don’t want to bother anyone...
“I knew it. You’re not stupid at all. You know how to read the room.”
“...Are you saying you used to think I was stupid?”
“You’re just slow, that’s all.”
“Oh, okay. Just slow... Slow?! You’re such a jerk!”
“Yeah? Stop being so slow and I won’t have to be a jerk.”
We burst out laughing. Come to think of it, this might be the first time he’s ever laughed in front of me.
There’s a pause, and then he asks me one last question—or at least, it feels like the last question.
“So you’re done here, I take it? Done with the race? Done with the Cultural Research Club?”
At this, I’m flooded with feelings of bittersweet longing. I want to try again, but if they don’t want me around—
But then I hear screams from atop the mountain.
“CHEE-HEEEEEEE!!! SHINO-CHAAAAN!!! WE’RE WAITING!!! PLEASE COME JOIN THE CLUB!!!”
That’s Iori-senpai.
“CHIHIRO-KUUUUN!!! YOU BETTER BE A GENTLEMAN AND HELP SHINO-CHAN GET UP HERE!!! AND I HOPE YOU’LL BOTH JOIN THE CLUB!!! IT’LL BE FUN!!!”
That’s Yui-senpai.
“HURRY AND GET UP HERE, Y’ALL!!! I WANNA EAT SOME BARBECUE!!! YOU GUYS AREN’T JUST OUR KOUHAI, YOU’RE OUR FRIENDS!!!”
That’s Aoki-senpai.
“YOU’VE GOT A LOT OF NERVE, MAKING YOUR SENPAI WAIT AROUND FOR YOU!!! NOW GET YOUR ASSES UP HERE!!!”
That’s Inaba-senpai.
“WE’D LOVE TO HAVE YOU!!! IT’S GONNA BE A BLAST, SO PLEASE JOIN US!!!”
And that’s Taichi-senpai.
I freeze in place, listening to all the different voices. But I’m picking up more than just that... I feel so... so... loved. And maybe that’s what I needed most.
“...What’ll it be, Enjouji?” Chihiro-kun asks.
I might be slow on the uptake, but one thing’s blatantly obvious, even to me—
“You’ve got ‘Let’s get up there’ written all over your face, Chihiro-kun.”
—It’s time to make my dreams come true.
◆◇◆
“Being in this club might make your life... really complicated. I mean, the chances are low, and worst case scenario, we’ll all do our best to help you... but the possibility is still there, so...”
Chihiro and Enjouji stared back, mouths agog, as Taichi attempted to explain.
“What are you talking about, Taichi-san?”
“Well, there’s something you need to know if you’re officially going to join us, and that’s—”
“Can’t it wait, buddy?” Aoki cut in. “If we don’t hurry, they’re gonna run out of meat, Chihiro! You’re still hungry, aren’tcha?!”
“Yes, sir!”
And with that, the two boys dashed off to the grill.
After the track team marathon came to an end, the seven members of the CRC headed to the park campground and crashed the barbecue party.
Originally they’d been hesitant to do so, of course, considering it was the track team’s event and not theirs, but a group of male track members convinced them to join in on the condition that they all come and spectate at a track event at some point.
(When the CRC finally caved, one of the track guys shouted “YES! Now all we gotta do is show off and the girls are as good as ours! WOOHOO!”)
And so Taichi was left standing alone with Enjouji.
“That reminds me, Enjouji... You never did tell us what it was that first got you interested in us.”
She flinched. “Oh... um... well... ummm...”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m not gonna bite, so just relax, okay?”
“O-OKAY!!!”
“I said relax. Geez...”
Nagase and Inaba wandered over, possibly drawn by Enjouji’s shout.
“What’s going on?”
“Is something the matter?”
“No, it’s noth—”
“AS YOU WISH, I SHALL HUMBLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION!” Enjouji blurted out as though she had an audience with the Queen of England.
“Wait, what? What question?” Nagase asked curiously.
“After all your words of encouragement... and seeing as I’ve officially decided to join... it’s only fair that I tell you what interested me about the Cultural Research Club!”
“Ooooh! I like your spirit, Shino-chan! Tell us, tell us!” Nagase beamed.
“Okay... The first reason is... because I wanted to be like you guys.”
“You did?” Inaba asked.
“Y-Yeah... See, I was walking by one day when I spotted you all together... guys and girls, hanging out with no awkwardness... and I thought to myself, this is what I want high school to be like... and then I heard one of you say ‘Cultural Research Club’...”
“That sounds like a perfectly good reason to me. Why would you feel like you had to hide it?” Taichi asked.
Enjouji hung her head. “W-Well... It’s kinda embarrassing, that’s all...”
“I take it there’s more reasons than just that one?” asked Nagase.
“Y-Yeah... The other reason is...” Enjouji’s glance flickered to Taichi. After approximately ten seconds of silence, he tilted his head in confusion. Then, finally, she worked up the courage to confess: “...I like Taichi-senpai!”
“......What?”
He froze. His mind went blank.
“What?! Holy crap! Are you serious?!” Nagase panicked.
“Wh... Wh... What the fuck...? Wh... What are you... Aah...!” Inaba started shaking so hard, she dropped her plate.
“I mean... I like his voice!”
“............Huh?” It was the most Taichi could manage.
“Wait... Just his voice?” Nagase asked in his place.
“Yes! A hundred—no, thousand percent just his voice! It’s got this lovely, deep timbre that matches perfectly with his stoic style of speech... almost like classical music! It’s my ideal aesthetic!” Enjouji chattered excitedly.
Evidently his voice was more of a ladykiller than he was.
“Wh... What about the rest of him?” Inaba asked.
“Absolutely not. The second I learn anything about who they are as a person, it completely kills it for me. Hard pass,” Enjouji declared, her index finger pointing confidently in Inaba’s direction.
Who are you and what have you done with Enjouji?
As it turned out, the girl had a few idiosyncrasies of her own.
◆◇◆
The barbecue party was nearly over, and their stomachs were full. After a quick visit to the restroom, Uwa Chihiro decided to kill time by wandering around the park.
In an unbelievable turn of events, he had inadvertently agreed to join the Cultural Research Club. So what had Taichi meant when he said that being in this club might make their lives complicated?
“Oh, hey! It’s Chee-hee!”
There, he was spotted by one Nagase Iori. Intentionally or by chance, he couldn’t be sure.
“Is this the way to the bathrooms?”
“No, the restrooms are over there.”
“Oh, whoops! Thank you!” She turned in the direction he indicated... then came to a stop. “That reminds me, Chee-hee. I was wanting to ask you something.”
She turned back to face him. The wind blew, rustling her dark hair, tinted copper by the sunset. And with her perfect figure, her plain gym clothes looked anything but.
“You’re not actually the kind of guy who would tell a girl she’s beautiful, are you?”
Her voice was so crisp and clear, it set him on edge. That, and he didn’t really see what she was getting at.
“I mean, you’re too much of a grouch... Not that that’s a bad thing, of course.”
“Uh... Okay...?”
He found himself ensnared by her sharp eyes. Beautiful, yet impalpably terrifying.
“Remember that time you said I was attractive?”
“Oh yeah... I do recall saying something along those lines.”
“It struck me as really out of character, so I thought about it, and then it hit me: When you flirt with one person, you’re subtly suggesting that you’re not interested in someone else... In other words—”
“Nagase-san!” he shouted, cutting her off.
She blinked back in surprise.
“Oh... uh... It’s nothing.” God, I’m such an idiot.
At this, Nagase smiled softly, affectionately, like the Virgin Mary. “Okay, I’m sorry. Just try not to fall in love if you know you’ll regret it, is all I’m saying. Trust me, I...”
“Huh?”
But the rustle of the tree branches drowned out the rest of her sentence.
◆◇◆
Following his encounter with Nagase, Chihiro headed further away from the others, to a deserted area of the forest within the nature park. He needed some alone time so he could defuse his anger.
In his mind, he couldn’t stop replaying the conversation they’d had. What’s with her? Acting like she knows everything... God, I’m pathetic. What an embarrassment. I’m a miserable little worm.
“This is so stupid...” he hissed under his breath.
“...It is, isn’t it...?”
A lethargic voice wriggled up from the earth itself.
Chihiro whipped around and spotted a single figure, concealed in the shadows.
“Wh... Who are you?!” he shouted.
“Who...? Let’s see... «Heartseed», perhaps...?”
The End